Andy Burnham Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Andy Burnham

• Andy Burnham was born in Aintree, Liverpool, and raised in Culcheth, England.
  

  Childhood picture of Andy Burnham

• In an interview, Andy Burnham shared that because of his Irish heritage, he identifies himself mainly as British rather than English. He added that he sees himself as British first, a north westerner second, a Liverpudlian third and English fourth.

• At the age of 15, he joined the Labour party.

• In 1994, he served as a political researcher for Tessa Jowell for the 1997 general election.

• In 1995, Andy joined Transport and General Workers’ Union.

• After the 1997 election, from August 1197 to December 1997, Andy was appointed as parliamentary officer for the NHS Confederation from August to December 1997.

• After that he was appointed as an administrator with the Football Task Force, where he worked for improving football-related politics and fan issues.

• In 1998, he became a special adviser to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith.

• In 2000, Andy married to Dutch-born businesswoman, Marie-France van Heel. They had been in a relationship since their university days.
  

  Andy Burnham and his wife Marie-France van Heel during their university days

• In 2001, Burnham entered into main stream politics and applied as a parliamentary candidate on Labour party seat for leigh in Greater Manchester. He was elected with a majority of 16,362 votes.

• On 4 July 2001, Andy gave his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

• After the election, from 2001 to 2003, he served as a member of the Health Select Committee.

• In 2003, Andy became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Home Secretary, David Blunkett.

• In 2004, after David Blunkett’s resignation, Burnham became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly.

• In 2005, after the general election, Andy Burnham was promoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the government, and was given the responsibility for implementing the Identity Cards Act 2006 in England.

• In the government reshuffle of 5 May 2006 in England, Andy was moved from the Home Office and was promoted to Minister of State for Delivery and Reform at the Department of Health.

• On 28 June 2007, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown appointed him as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in his first cabinet. During his time at Treasury, he helped in preparing and writing the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

• In January 2008, during the government re-shuffle, Andy was promoted to the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

• In June 2009, Burnham became Secretary of State for Health. He held the post until the Labour government resigned following the 2010 general election.

• In May 2010, after the defeat of Gordon Brown’s government in the UK, Burnham was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Health in Prime Minister David Cameron‘s government.

• After Brown’s resignation as leader of the Labour Party, Burnham declared his participation in leadership contest. On 26 May 2010, he launched his leadership campaign in his Leigh constituency. However, Burnham did not make his win and finished at fourth position.

• In October 2010, Burnham was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education. During that time he was also appointed as election co-ordinator for the Labour Party.

• As shadow education secretary, Burnham opposed the coalition government’s plans for “free schools”. He argued for moving the education system back towards a comprehensive system.

• From 2011 to 2015, he served the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Health in David Cameron’s government.

• On 13 May 2015, Burnham re-contested in the 2015 leadership election. However, Burnham came second with 19% of the vote in the first round.

• In September 2015, Burnham was appointed Shadow Home Secretary in the first Corbyn shadow cabinet. He served the role till 2016 government reshuffle.

• In May 2016, Andy announced his candidacy for the 2017 mayoral election. In August 2016, he was selected as the Labour candidate for the mayoral election.

• In October 2016, he resigned from the post of Shadow Home Secretary.

• On 5 May 2017, Burnham was elected as the first mayor of Greater Manchester by receiving 63% of the vote.

• In 2021, he was re-elected as the mayor of Greater Manchester.

• After his victory as Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy became one of the leading names discussed as a future Labour Party Leader.

• In September 2023, he was ranked 12th on the New Statesman Left Power List.

• In the 2024 mayoral election, Burnham was elected for a third term. This was the first Greater Manchester mayoral election to use the first-past-the-post voting system. He won in every ward except one during the election.

• As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham raised several major issues including homelessness, affordable housing, public transport reforms, social care, mental health support, and regional inequality.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic he challenged the government for better financial support for Greater Manchester and strongly argued for more powers and equal opportunities for northern regions of England.

• On 24 January 2026, Andy Burnham applied to become Labour’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election. However, Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) blocked his candidacy with an 8-4 vote.

• In May 2026, Josh Simons’ resignation as MP for Makerfield created a by-election opportunity to Andy for returning to parliamentary politics.

• He became Labour Party’s only shortlisted candidate for Makerfield by-election.

• For his election campaign, he used slogan “Andy- For us,” and used a cartoon version of himself in campaign material. The music band Oasis also allowed him to ujse their song “Some Might Say” during his campaign.
  

  Andy Burnham during his election campaign

• In June 2026, Andy won the Makerfield by-election with 54.8 % of the votes and returned to the Parliament after nine years.

• He resigned as Mayor of Greater Manchester because the UK law does not allow someone to serve as both Mayor and MP simultaneously.

• On 22 June 2026, Andy Burnham officially took oath as a Member of Parliament.

• On the same day, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he would step down once a new leader was elected, Andy announced that he would contest the Labour Party leadership election.
  

  Andy Burnham (right) with Prime Minister Keir Starmer (left)

• Along with his political career, Burnham is also sports person. During his college days he played cricket and football for his college team.

• In an interview, Andy mentioned that he was lifelong fan of Premier League football club Everton. He also played football for Labour Party’s football team, Demon Eyes F.C.

• Additionally, he is also a supporter of rugby league and served as the honorary chairman and honorary vice-president of Leigh Leopards, a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester.