BREAKING: Andy Burnham’s father dies lower than two months after son turns into Prime Minister

This is a Breaking News story. Please click back for further updates

View Image

Andy Burnham’s father Roy has died, the Mirror understands.

The Prime Minister has cancelled a number of engagements following the news of his beloved dad’s passing.

Roy, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, had been living in a care home. The PM’s drive to fix the broken social care system has been fuelled by the care his dad received.

Mr Burnham has spoken movingly about his sadness that his father did not know that he had become Prime Minister in July. Appearing on the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast earlier in the summer, the PM said: “Something wonderful happened last week. I went into his care home on Sunday. This was the Sunday after I’d become Prime Minister, so six days later.

“One of the staff said ‘oh, the manager wants to speak to you before you leave’. So I went over and I spoke to her and she said ‘we all wanted you to know’.

“I have to be careful here, this does make me quite emotional. She said, ‘we all knew what time you might be coming up Downing Street so we got Roy in his chair, and we got the telly right in front of him, and six of us stood around him and all said ‘Roy, look’.

“And she said he turned and momentarily, they said, ‘we thought he knew’.”

Mr Burnham added: “At the time that they were doing that, I was holding my mum and we were having a chat about him so the thought of them doing that 200 miles away.”

When asked whether it was his mother he embraced outside Number 10, he confirmed: “I was whispering in her ear about my dad.”

This is a Breaking News story. You’ll be more likely to see our stories when any big news breaks in future by simply by clicking this link . You can also join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News , Flipboard , Apple News , TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads – or visit The Mirror homepage .