Who is Andy Burnham and why was he at the Conservative conference?
Labour Greater Manchester Mayor attends Tory event in his home city
Andy Burnham is getting his full money’s worth of party conference season, attending his own Labour event before surprisingly turning up for the Conservative equivalent.
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For all the talk of low numbers buying tickers for the Tory gala, the Mancunian mayor was one who attended the event in his home city and spoke at several fringe events.
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Mr Burnham is not going to cross the aisle and defect to the Tories but spoke on the importance of devolution and praised former Conservative chancellor George Osborne.
He began his address by joking he might be more welcome in Manchester than at the Labour Party’s conference in Liverpool, a reference to his reported challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.
“I have to spend part of every single working week in this job remaking the case for devolution to Whitehall,” the Greater Manchester Mayor said, according to the Spectator.
“You would think I wouldn’t have to do that anymore after ten years of growth – but sadly, we do.”
Mr Burnham is currently the fifth favourite to be the next prime minister, according to OddsChecker, despite being ineligible to run as he is not an MP.
Here is all you need to know about him and his threat to Sir Keir’s leadership.
Who is Andy Burnham?
The 55-year-old is a long-time figure within the Labour party, having been MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester from 2001 to 2017.
Since May 2017, he has been Mayor of Greater Manchester - winning that election, and two subsequent votes in 2021 and 2024.
His achievements in the role include bringing the bus network under local government control, moving forward with a £300m housing fund, and launching the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate education path.
Mr Burnham is considered to be “soft left” within the party, meaning he would perhaps be aligned to the ideologies of Tony Blair or Gordon Brown - and more socialist than Sir Keir. Indeed, the pair have not always seen eye-to-eye, and now Mr Burnham has gone a step further by launching Mainstream, a network of members who are pushing for more socialist policies.
A backer said: "He [Mr Burnham] really does represent what the Labour Party is about. He's not only demonstrated that across Manchester but the leadership he does give on many issues, I think that's the kind of leadership we need at this time.”
Although he is an influential Labour member, he would not immediately be able to run for the top job, unless he was to become an MP once more.
It has been speculated that he could eye up the Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton, which has been Independent since Andrew Gwynne lost the Labour whip in February.
Who is Andy Burnham’s wife, Marie-France van Heel?
Mr Burnham has been married to Marie-France van Heel, who is Dutch, since 2000 - having met when they were both at university - and the pair have a son and two daughters.
The pair met while studying at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, and Van Heel appeared on the TV series Blind Date around this time.
Frankie, as she is known, has worked as a brand consultant for BSkyB and her own firm MVH Marketing. She had a double mastectomy in 2010 after discovering she had a breast cancer gene, with three of her family members having died from the illness.
