Andy Burnham’s marriage is a love story for the ages – he and his wife have been together since they met at university. He tied the knot with Dutch native Marie-France van Heel in 2000 – better known as Frankie – after meeting at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Burnham, whose parents were a GP receptionist and a BT engineer, was encouraged to attend the prestigious university by his English teacher.

But things didn’t always go smoothly for Burnham and his wife. In the early days of their relationship, Frankie asked her partner permission to appear on ITV dating show Blind Date, where she was set up with ‘Will from Surrey’ on an awkward date to Gibraltar.

Things quickly went wrong on the show, however, after Frankie – decked out in a bottle green blazer and huge flared trousers – selected Will Harris from three bachelors with the help of host Cilla Black.

She immediately started arguing with Will, telling him to “try and look attractive” for their date. He had turned up to the show in a pair of light-wash dungarees and a baggy pink sweater.

When they returned to the studio after the date, Will branded Frankie a “cold fish”, causing her to throw a cushion at him. She told him backstage: “F*** off, I never want to see you again.”

In a stunning conclusion to the story, 12 years after their Blind Date, Frankie was sitting with her husband Burnham in the Commons bar in Parliament – only for Will to walk in, having become a marketing director for the opposing Conservative Party.

Burnham said of the incident: “My wife and I have been together for 25 years but in the early days she was on Blind Date and she was the picker, and to add insult to injury she picked Will from Surrey, who ended up being the director of communications for the Conservative party.”

Now the pair share three children together – son Jimmy and daughters Rosie and Annie.