- Marie-France van Heel, wife of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, has left her job as a marketing executive to focus on supporting her husband in his role.
- Van Heel accompanied Burnham to the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where she met with various international figures including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s spouse.
- Van Heel, who met Burnham at Cambridge University in 1989, has had a successful career in marketing, working for companies like BSkyB and setting up her own firm before becoming chief customer officer at Be.EV.
Marie-France van Heel, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s wife, has left her job as a marketing executive and is thought to be taking on an unofficial first lady-style role.
A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday that van Heel had stepped away from her position as chief customer officer at the electric vehicle charging network company Be.EV.
The Observer newspaper reported she had taken the decision to focus on supporting her husband in his role which requires attending both international and domestic events.
The spokesperson for Burnham’s office 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.”
Van Heel earlier this week accompanied Burnham to the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, where she met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenska.
Zelenska described their meeting on X as “a pleasure” and wrote they discussed “support for Ukraine, the work of the Global Coalition for Ukrainian Studies” and plans to mark a Ukrainian Week in the UK later this year.
The Observer newspaper also reported she met Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s spouse, Diana Fox Carney, and the US first lady Melania Trump.
Van Heel met Burnham at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, when they were undergraduates in 1989.
She has spent much of her career in marketing, at one stage working for BSkyB before setting up her own firm MVH Marketing.
She later became chief strategy officer at London-based agency Heavenly, which has worked on campaigns for HSBC, England Rugby and the BBC, and chief customer officer at Be.EV.
