'Total class act': Marie-France van Heel set for unusually active role as UK PM's wife

Marie-France van Heel, wife of British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, is poised to take on a significantly more active role in representing the country than any prime ministerial spouse in the last twenty years. The former senior marketing executive has gradually stepped back from her corporate career to make room for her new responsibilities.

Van Heel has hired a political adviser — a former special adviser to a cabinet minister — to help her navigate the role and promote UK interests abroad. She has also changed her position at Be.EV, a Manchester-based electric vehicle charging network, stepping down as chief customer officer while remaining on the company's board.

Last week, van Heel travelled with Burnham to the UN General Assembly in New York, where she attended a lunch hosted by US First Lady Melania Trump and met with Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska as well as Canadian Prime Minister's wife Diana Fox Carney. With the UK set to hold the G20 presidency next year and the G7 presidency the year after, van Heel is seen as a valuable addition to Britain's diplomatic efforts.

At the Labour party conference, she met members of the Labour Asians Society and attended an event on apprenticeships, earning praise for the attention she gave participants. Her team is now considering how best to use her professional experience to support charitable causes — she previously served as a trustee at Plan International UK.

Born in Pennsylvania, US, to Dutch parents, van Heel grew up in the Netherlands and Belgium and met Burnham while studying at Cambridge University. The couple has been married for 26 years and has three adult children. Downing Street has officially said only that van Heel is supporting her husband and advancing UK interests, but observers predict she could become the most active and influential prime minister's spouse since Sarah Brown in the early 2000s.