PRIME Minister Andy Burnham has cancelled all engagements after after his dad Roy sadly died after a battle with Alzheimer’s.

The PM has shelved all his plans today and tomorrow following the tragic news, Downing Street said.

Mr Burnham has spoken about his father’s illness which meant that he sadly did not know his son had become Prime Minister.

The experience is one of the driving factors in the Prime Minister’s aim to reform the social care system.

The PM had been due to host business leaders in No 10 on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday, he was expected to chair the weekly cabinet meeting and give a speech at the Trade Union’s Congress in Brighton.

Mr Burnham previously said regarding social care: “Millions of people are going without their basic needs being met because the system isn’t good enough to meet their basic daily needs, so that’s the first thing.

“Second thing, you have millions of family carers, people like my mum, who try to care for my dad at home, who in the end are actually the main issue.

“We discovered as a family, my mum was sinking under the pressure of trying to make it work when the care system couldn’t make it work for her.”

Burnham said in “an ideal world” he would not want anyone to have to sell their home to pay for care, describing it as a “really awful process”.

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No 10 issued a statement today to say: “The PM has cancelled engagements for today and tomorrow due to the passing of his father, Roy.”

Burnham’s father was diagnosed with prostate cancer towards the end of Covid.

Following the cancer, Roy faced enough health battle and sadly developed advanced Alzheimer’s disease.

The Prime Minster made his favoured direction for next month’s Budget clear when he declared: “National security can’t come at the expense of social security.”

However, Burnham insisted his commitment to defence was “absolute” and vowed to meet NATO’s target of spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence by 2035.

But the detailed plan for getting there will not be unveiled until next year’s Spending Review.

The PM also insisted he will bring the welfare budget down instead of making “crude cuts to housing benefits”.