Andy Burnham has revealed he has been urged by colleagues to challenge PM Keir Starmer for the top job in Government.
Mr Burnham has claimed he has been in touch with a number of unnamed Labour MPs who have privately urging him to challenge Sir Keir and run to lead the party in power.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, who served in Gordon Brown's cabinet, has been tipped to make a return to Westminster and now speculation is rife that he may now put himself forward for the role.
Sir Keir has already had to reshuffle his cabinet and now speaking to The Telegraph and the New Statesman, Mr Burnham has further fuelled rumours that he is plotting another leadership challenge after two previously failed bids.
He admitted: "People have contacted me throughout the summer - yeah. I'm not going to say to you that that hasn't happened.
"But as I say, it's more a decision for those people than it is for me.I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn't it?"
But what do we know about Mr Burnham’s home life and in particular about his leading lady, wife Marie-France van Heel.
Who is Marie-France van Heel?
Marie-France van Heel is the Dutch woman married to Andy Burnham.
She was born in but lived in Belgium before she started studying at Cambridge University, and it was here that she met her husband-to-be.
The couple met while they were studying at Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge University.
The pair were on and off as youngsters and it is reported that Marie-France had to ask Burnham for permission to appear on the TV series Blind Date when younger. She appeared on the show in January 1992.
Marie-France, who is known as Frankie, has worked in marketing for most of her career.
She previously worked for BSkyB and her own firm MVH Marketing was dissolved in 2011 after three years in operation, and also worked as CEO of the London-based firm Heavenly, which has designed logos for clients such as HSBC, England Rugby and the BBC.
Now she sits on the board for Manchester-based public electric vehicle charging network Be.EV, and is the Chief Marketing and Customer of the Octopus Energy Generation.
She is said to be “passionate about charity work” and has previously worked with the likes of Marie Curie, The Alzheimer’s Society, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Guy’s & St Thomas’ to fundraise.
When did they marry and do they have children?
The couple were living in Brixton, London when they had their first son Jimmy in March 2000.
They married later that year before upping sticks to the north.
Daughters Rosie and Annie were born years later while living in Manchester.
Where have we heard of her before?
In 2010, when she was 40, Marie-France underwent a double mastectomy after a genetic test revealed that she could be at risk from breast cancer after family tragedy had struck before.
Her sister Claire died from breast cancer aged 39 and Ms Heel decided to have the operation after it was found she had the breast cancer gene fault known as BRCA1.
Her sister Claire left four children under the age of eight when she tragically died from an aggressive strain of the cancer in 2007.
