Laughter, then politics: Tory Harris eyes Burnham’s PMQs

If Andy Burnham becomes prime minister he will, like his predecessors, face a sea of hostile faces every time he speaks in the House of Commons. But after the next election, if he manages to pull off a miracle and keep Labour in power the Makerfield MP could face one hostile face with a difference – a man who once wooed his future wife on Blind Date. Will Harris was the lucky contestant chosen by Marie-France van Heel live on Saturday night television in 1992.

There was no romance – she was already with Mr Burnham and took part as a publicity stunt to help her dream of becoming a children’s TV presenter. However, more than three decades after ‘Will from Surrey’ went on prime time TV dressed in dungarees and serenaded her with bad poetry, Mr Harris wants to become an MP. Now 56 and with a career in marketing, he wants to stand as a Conservative candidate at the next election – which could be months away if

Mr Burnham decides to go to the country to give his new regime legitimacy. ‘I could get to ask him questions one day at PMQs, which would be great fun,’ Mr Harris told the Sunday Times. Mr Burnham was accompanied at his by-election triumph last week by his wife of 26 years, who is known to friends as Frankie. The couple, both 56, have two sons and a daughter, having first met as students at Cambridge University in 1989 – bonded by a shared love

of indie band the Smiths. Mr Burnham had agreed to the televised appearance, though later told of watching the primetime Saturday night episode worriedly ‘watching through my fingers’ and from behind the sofa. born marketing executive Frankie was a social and political sciences student at the time, while Mr Burnham was doing an English degree. She has subsequently revealed how her decision to go on the show was part of earlier plans to become a children’s television presenter. Ms Van Heel later said in an

interview on ex-employer Heavenly’s website: ‘I thought that appearing on a TV dating show might raise my profile and help my career – 20 years of intermittent mickey-taking was the result but I’m happy to embrace my 15m of fame/shame!’ The programme, which ran from 1985 to 2003, saw male and female contestants pick one of three members of the opposite sex for a date, without seeing them and relying on their answers to a set of questions. Will’s answers included offering up a rhyme

in her honour, when answering her question about what he did in the shower by saying: ‘I generally make up poems and short stories.’ He followed up by attempting to woo her with: ‘Oh, Frankie, oh, Frankie – your name is quite cranky. Pick me for your Blind Date, and there’ll be no hanky-panky.’ She then asked the three men: ‘What would you do if you were my first taste of British men?’ Will told her in response: ‘You give me half an hour and

I’ll give you the best time of your life.’ But it all ended in disaster, with a trip to Gibraltar that resulted in Mr Harris branding her a ‘cold fish’ when asked how it went afterwards. He told the Sunday Times he was put up to criticising her by production staff who lied and said she had been rude about him in her interview about the date. The position became more awkward six months later when, having abandoned hopes of a TV career, Ms Van

Heel ended up on the same marketing course as her former date. She married Mr Burnham in 2000. Mr Harris went on to work in marketing and now runs his own agency. He also had several stints working with Tory leaders including Michael Howard and Rishi Sunak.

Andy Burnham, Will Harris, Marie-France van Heel, Frankie, Blind Date, PMQs, Conservative candidate, marketing agency, Tory leaders, Michael Howard, Rishi Sunak, House of Commons