There was a telling moment in Andy Burnham’s second bid to be Labour leader where he was put firmly in place by his own wife.
The pair had sat down for an interview for one of Burnham’s own campaign videos, and Marie-France van Heel – known to her friends as Frankie – remarked that having met Burnham on her first day at Cambridge University, she asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up. “What did I say?” the then MP for Leigh asked her. Frankie gave a mocking giggle, then said: “You said you wanted to be an MP.”
Burnham, who has spent most of his long political career pitching himself as an outsider who somehow fell upon politics, looked rather crestfallen at this point. “No, did I?” he asked. “Yeah!” replied his wife. “And I could have left the room at that point.”
It was a strange clip to include in that campaign, given it rather undermined Burnham’s anti-Establishment credentials. And as he gets going with what most assume will be his third time lucky bid to be Labour leader, Burnham is unlikely to rehash that interview with his wife now. Or, indeed, make her a feature of that campaign.
There is a sense that both have been rather bruised by some of the media exposure and criticism that van Heel has faced in recent years – particularly over her business interests – and there is a desire to hold her back from any more. I’m told that van Heel, who is “genuinely a private person”, is going to try to maintain as much privacy as possible for as long as possible.
The important phrase there is “as long as possible”, because all private politicians and their privacy-loving spouses end up having to give ground once they’re in Downing Street.
How much they give often depends on how bad things have got for the prime minister in question. Gordon Brown recognised that his wife Sarah was far more palatable to the voting public than he was, and made use of her at party conferences to introduce him as “my hero, my husband” and humanise him. Rishi Sunak did similar in 2023, when his wife, Akshata Murty, took to the Conservative conference stage to praise – and gently mock – the then prime minister, to make people like him more.
Both women had already taken more of a public-facing role before these set-pieces, though. Contrast with Victoria Starmer, who like van Heel wasn’t particularly interested in politics and even less enthusiastic about her husband becoming Prime Minister.
The Starmers have never allowed their children to be named or photographed in public – a ship that has already sailed for Burnham’s three children, who’ve appeared at counts and in campaign videos.
And the closest the current Prime Minister’s wife has come to being in the public eye herself is to wave from the conference stage at the end of her husband’s speeches, and to look emotional from the audience when he was being interviewed for Piers Morgan’s Life Stories as part of his own attempt to appear human.
It’s tempting to read the above and to think that British politicians only end up using their spouses – especially male politicians with wives – as a tool for seeming more human. Which is depressing for both partners in that relationship: the man is a robot, while his wife is there to make him look better.
Of course, the reality is that political partners have far more influence behind the scenes than just that, and some end up being important counsellors to their other halves.
Sarah Brown, for instance, was someone whose advice her husband heavily relied on: he valued her judgement as a communications professional in the same way as Burnham presumably finds van Heel’s marketing and branding expertise useful in crafting his own image. She has had senior roles in the energy sector, led firms that have designed logos for top organisations including HSBC and the BBC, and run her own business.
What he may also find powerful, though, is having a spouse who isn’t that interested in the trappings of power – and who has their own life outside of politics. It is so easy for leaders to end up entirely consumed by the bubble of their jobs and life in Downing Street that they forget how a “normal” person functions.
This is all the more important for Burnham, whose central pitch is that he is just a normal kind of guy who wears trainers, and heads for a pint with his family after winning a by-election. The Adidas shoes might not be quite so visible if he does make it to No 10, but chances are that van Heel will find she increasingly is – even if she’s enjoying the calm before the storm right now.
Hence then, the article about the most reluctant inhabitant of burnham s no 10 will be his most important was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The most reluctant inhabitant of Burnham’s No 10 will be his most important )
Also on site :