Luckily for Burnham, van Heel and Harris failed to find a spark on their date and swiftly went their separate ways.
Burnham has had the support of his wife from the beginning of his political career
Burnham told van Heel on the first night they met that he wanted to be an MP [Member of Parliament].
“I met him on my first day at university. Yes, with the long hair, the good looks, and monobrow,” van Heel recalled in a 2015 interview. When Burnham told her of his political aspirations, van Heel “left the room,” but they soon formed a burgeoning relationship.Â
When he was considering running for the Labour leadership contest in 2015, Burnham had his family at the forefront of his mind.
“We talked it through and it was very much a team effort, a family effort. I wouldn’t put them through it if I wasn’t sure,” he said.
Van Heel’s family experience with cancerÂ
Burnham previously served as Health Secretary under the premiership of Gordon Brown from 2009 to 2010, then as the shadow Health Secretary following Labour’s defeat in the 2010 general election.Â
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