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.
