Andrew Murray Burnham MP (born 7 January 1970), usually known as Andy Burnham, is a British politician. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for the Greater Manchester constituency of Leigh and has been Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 24 January 2008.

Early life

Andy Burnham was born in Liverpool, the son of a telephone engineer father and a receptionist mother, and raised in Culcheth, Warrington, close to the village of Lowton (which is at the southern end of the Leigh Parliamentary Constituency). He was educated at St Aelred's Roman Catholic High School (now St Aelred's Catholic Technology College) on Birley Street in Newton-le-Willows and Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from where he was awarded an MA in English.

Joining the Labour Party

He claims to have joined the Labour Party at the age of 14 in 1984 during the miners' strike, and was a researcher to Tessa Jowell MP from 1994 until after the 1997 General Election. He joined the Transport and General Workers Union in 1995. After the 1997 election he was briefly a parliamentary officer for the NHS Confederation from August until December 1997, before taking up the post as an administrator with the Football Task Force for a year.^[1] In 1998, he became a special advisor to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith, where he remained until his election to parliament. He joined the UNISON trade union in 2000.

Member of Parliament

Andy Burnham contested the safe Labour seat of Leigh at the 2001 General Election following the retirement of Lawrence Cunliffe. He was elected with a majority of 16,362, and gave his maiden speech on 4 July 2001.^[2]

In government

Following his election to parliament, he became a member of the Health Select Committee from 2001 until 2003, when he was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Home Secretary David Blunkett. Following Blunkett's first resignation in 2004 he became the PPS to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly. He was promoted to serve in Tony Blair's government after the 2005 General Election as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State with responsibility for identity cards legislation.

In the government reshuffle of 5 May 2006, Burnham was promoted from the Home Office to a Minister of State at the Department of Health.

In cabinet

In Gordon Brown's first cabinet announced 28 June 2007, Burnham was promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Burnham was alleged to have caused embarrassment to the Government in August 2007 by attacking the Conservative party's Economic Competitiveness report before admitting in an interview that he had not read the report.^[3]

The Daily Telegraph published an interview with Burnham on 13 October 2007 in which he stated that: "I think it?s better when children are in a home where their parents are married" and "it?s not wrong that the tax system should recognise commitment and marriage" which created some controversy because following through this argument would replicate the current policies of the Conservative Party, the official opposition in the UK.^[4]

In the January 2008 re-shuffle he was made Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.^[5]

In June 2008 he was forced to apologise to the director of the pressure group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, after she threatened to sue him for libel for smearing her reputation.^[6]

In 2008, he announced Government plans to crack down on the Internet, tightening up controls in order to "even up" what he claimed was an imbalance with TV regulations. ^[7][8][9]

Personal life

Burnham married Marie-France van Heel in 2000 after 11 years together,^[4] and their son attended the wedding. The couple had been dating since University. Van Heel, formerly head of marketing at MTV, BSkyB and Littlewoods Gaming and until recently the Planning Director at Creative Communication Agency WRG in Manchester and now a Communications Consultant, and they have a son and two daughters.

Burnham was the honorary Chairman of Leigh Rugby League Club for a short period of time. Burnham was also a talented junior cricketer and keen footballer, and competed at both sports for his College. He has played for Labour's "Demon Eyes" football team and is a life-long fan of Premier League football club Everton FC.^[10][11]

He is Roman Catholic.^[12]

References

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Andrew Burnham MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Andy Burnham MP
• Voting record at the Public Whip
• BBC Politics page
• Correspondence regarding Dispute over Hansom Cab

Audio clips

• Interview with GMR after 2005 election

Video clips

• Delivering 18 week NHS target

pl:Andy Burnham simple:Andy Burnham sv:Andy Burnham

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