Andy Burnham‘s wife has quit her job to focus on being a full-time ‘first lady’.
Marie-France van Heel – known as Frankie – is resigning as a marketing executive to support the Prime Minister in his duties.
She has already embraced her new unofficial role by holding meetings with her counterparts around the world.
Earlier this week she travelled with her husband to the UN general assembly in New York where she held meetings with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky‘s wife, Olena, and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney‘s spouse, Diana.
She also attended a lunch hosted by the US first lady, Melania Trump.
She is said to be keen to get to know her opposite numbers ahead of the UK holding the G20 presidency next year and holding the G7 presidency the year after.
Since arriving in Downing Street, she has also joined her husband at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, as well as the opening of the Bayeux tapestry where she met the King and Queen and Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.
Ms van Heel, 56, has worked for Be.EV, a Manchester-based electric vehicle charging network since 2024.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrives at 10 Downing Street on his first day in office, with his wife Marie-France van Heel
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A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘Marie-France van Heel has taken the decision to step down from her position as chief customer officer at Be.EV.
‘She will continue to serve on the company’s board in an advisory role.
‘The prime minister has already recused himself of any decisions relating to EV charging.’
Since Mr Burnham became Prime Minister, he and his wife have split their time between Downing Street and their home in Warrington.
While he has said that he wants to work from No10 North, his wife has concluded that she can’t juggle her job in Manchester and undertake international travel and London-based events, according to the Observer.
There is no formal ‘first lady’ position in the UK leaving it up to spouses how involved they wish to be.
