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When the U.K.’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived at 10 Downing Street earlier this week, his wife of 25 years, Marie-France van Heel, was right by his side.

The couple, who share a son and two daughters, met at university, where van Heel was “much more high-flying” than Burnham, according to an interview the lawmaker gave in 2009.

Burnham, 56, has publicly thanked his wife for the “sacrifice” she made early on in his political career when he earned his first parliamentary selection for the northern England town of Leigh in 2001.

“When my wife got pregnant, we actually hadn't planned to have children at that time because I felt stability was important,” Burnham said. “We got married in October 2000, when Jimmy [our eldest child] was eight months old, and I was in a difficult battle to win the nomination. It was horrendous, up and down the M6 [motorway] from London campaigning.” 

Burnham’s wife has been a constant source of support throughout his political career, which saw him unsuccessfully vie for Labour leadership on two separate occasions before running unchallenged earlier this month.

The Burnham-van Heel family have laid strong roots in the north of England, where the now-Prime Minister served as mayor of Greater Manchester until last month, when he made a triumphant return to Westminster after winning the Makerfield by-election.

Having built a successful career in marketing, van Heel previously worked as chief strategy officer for consultancy firm Heavenly, which has worked on brand campaigns for the BBC, HSBC, and England Rugby. 

According to the BBC, she now serves as chief marketing officer at Iduna Infrastructure, a company which owns significant parts of Manchester's electric vehicle charging network.

During his mayoral tenure, Burnham chose to declare his wife's links to EV charging and remove himself from any related decision-making "so that there could be no perception of a conflict of interest nor any suggestion of privileged information being misused.”

Now, as he takes on the challenge of being the U.K.’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade, Burnham will come under a new spotlight. Here’s what to know about the person supporting him behind the scenes.

Marie-France van Heel appeared on a famous U.K. dating show

The Prime Minister has credited his time studying at Cambridge University for many of his good fortunes, including meeting his wife.

Burnham studied English and was in his second year when he bonded with van Heel, a Dutch-born peer.

During a Labour leadership hustings in July 2015, Burnham revealed an interesting detail about the earlier years of their relationship.

When the candidates were asked what made them human, Burnham regaled a story of his wife appearing on the former hit romance show Blind Date in the early 90s after he gave her his blessing.

The premise of the show saw a “picker” given the chance to ask questions to three potential suitors, all hidden behind a screen, before eventually picking one to go on a date with. The couple would then return to the show the following week, to let the host and audience know how the date went.

“In the early days, she was on Blind Date and she was the picker,” he said, according to The Spectator. “And to add insult to injury, she picked Will from Surrey, who ended up being the director of communications for the Conservative Party.”

The man in question was Will Harris, who did indeed go on to serve as the chief marketing officer for the Conservatives.

Luckily for Burnham, van Heel and Harris failed to find a spark on their date and swiftly went their separate ways.

Burnham has had the support of his wife from the beginning of his political career

Burnham told van Heel on the first night they met that he wanted to be an MP [Member of Parliament].

“I met him on my first day at university. Yes, with the long hair, the good looks, and monobrow,” van Heel recalled in a 2015 interview. When Burnham told her of his political aspirations, van Heel “left the room,” but they soon formed a burgeoning relationship. 

When he was considering running for the Labour leadership contest in 2015, Burnham had his family at the forefront of his mind.

“We talked it through and it was very much a team effort, a family effort. I wouldn’t put them through it if I wasn’t sure,” he said.

Van Heel’s family experience with cancer 

Burnham previously served as Health Secretary under the premiership of Gordon Brown from 2009 to 2010, then as the shadow Health Secretary following Labour’s defeat in the 2010 general election. 

It was during this role that he revealed the challenging personal experience he and his wife had faced. 

"It's been a devastating few years. You couldn't imagine a crueller set of circumstances happening to any family," said Burnham in 2010.

Van Heel had undergone a pre-emptive double mastectomy after learning she carried the gene for breast cancer following the death of her sister Claire from the disease, and the diagnosis of both her mother Bea and other sister, Louise. 

“As hard as it was to take, the decision was liberating rather than depressing, because it's lifted the cloud of fear,” said Burnham of his wife’s surgery. 

Van Heel has since participated in Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life event.