Andy Burnham's wife advised him against standing for the Labour leadership, warning him: 'They have told you twice they don't want you.' The Prime Minister said his wife Marie-France van Heel 'took some persuading' that he should try to topple Keir Starmer by launching a third bid for the Labour leadership. Mr Burnham met his Dutch wife, known as Frankie, while they were studying at Cambridge University in the late 1980s. Mr Burnham also revealed that his father Roy, who has Alzheimer's, has only fleeting awareness that he is now Prime Minister. The care home manager told him he had turned to them and 'momentarily, they said, "We thought he knew."'