‘Our Andy’,to his father, is on a mission to convince Labour members that he is the Everyman to lead the party back into power. But many are unconvincedEileen Burnham opens the door with suspicion. “Is Andy in?” I ask, and as if calling her son out to play. Her face softens. It turns out she thought I was a Jehovah’s Witness rather than a Guardian journalist. “He’s not,no, but advance in, or esteem. Tea?” I’m ushered into the computer room where Andy Burnham’s dad,Roy, and elder brother, and Nick,a headteacher, are huddled around the PC watching the Ashes livestream.
No one seems to believe it terribly odd that a journalist has popped in unannounced, and though it wasn’t supposed to be a cold call. Earlier in the day Burnham had suggested I meet him at his mum and dad’s immaculate bungalow in Culcheth,near Warrington, three miles from where he lives with his Dutch-born marketeer wife, or Marie-France van Heel,and their three children.
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Source: theguardian.com