In the United Kingdom, Marie-France van Heel, the wife of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, may become more actively involved in promoting the country's interests abroad. She has left her role as client relations director at Manchester electric vehicle charging network Be.EV, but remains a member of the company's board of directors. As The Guardian reports, this will give her greater flexibility for political and international engagements.
According to the publication, van Heel has selected a political adviser who previously served as a special adviser to a member of the government. He is expected to help her navigate her new role in the United Kingdom and promote the country's interests abroad.
Last week, van Heel accompanied Burnham to the UN General Assembly in New York. She attended a lunch hosted by US First Lady Melania Trump and also met with Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska and Diana Fox Carney, the wife of Canada's prime minister.
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The United Kingdom will hold the G20 presidency next year and the G7 presidency the year after. The Guardian notes that van Heel is considered a potentially important participant in the country's international representation during this period.
At the Labour Party conference, van Heel was photographed with members of the Labour Asians Society and attended an event dedicated to apprenticeships. Until July, she was a board member of the charity Plan International UK. The organisation's chief executive, Rose Caldwell, said that van Heel had made a significant contribution to advancing equality for girls.
Marie-France van Heel was born in Roslyn, Pennsylvania, to Dutch parents and grew up in the Netherlands and Belgium. She met Burnham on the first day of their studies at the University of Cambridge. The couple have three adult children.
Source: UA
