The £245,000 Liverpool semi Andy Burnham's gran bought... and 'changed his family's fortunes forever'

His grandfather, Jimmy, was a lorry driver for Tate & Lyle, his grandmother, Kitty, was a spirited young woman – so spirited that, without even telling her husband, she walked three miles out of bomb-damaged Liverpool to put down a deposit on a family house.This was the very personal origin story that Prime Minister Andy Burnham led off with in his first address to Labour conference as party leader, using it to frame his thoughts on issues like housing and aspiration.'She put a deposit down on a house. The house where I was born. It changed the fortunes of my family,' Mr Burnham related, before expanding: 'With a good home, everything is possible. Without one, it feels like nothing is.'That house, in the Liverpool suburb of Aintree, is still standing – and remarkably still has the same next-door neighbour as it did when Mr Burnham was born there in January 1970, and she still remembers that 'feisty' little boy who used to play football in the back garden.The Daily Mail can reveal the house is in Keble Drive in the Old Roan area of Aintree, Merseyside, where most houses were built between 1930-49.It's a typical suburban semi, now partially extended, its exposed brickwork now painted grey, while its rendered walls are cream with a neat block-paved driveway. The date that his grandparents bought their property and the amount they paid is not known, but houses in the street today typically sell for around £245,000.Even though his parents eventually got a place of their own, young Mr Burnham appears to have been a regular visitor to the house to visit his grandparents during his childhood. The house is a typical suburban semi, now partially extended, its exposed brickwork now painted grey, while its rendered walls are cream with a neat block-paved driveway Andy Burnham's grandparents James and Kate Murray are pictured. Mr Burnham described them as 'working-class Scousers' Mr Burnham is seen here as a baby. He was born in a house his grandmother had walked three miles to put a deposit onBurnham praised his parents Eileen and Roy in his speech in Liverpool on Tuesday, saying they had given him 'a care for people'. They are pictured hereThe home of Mr Burnham's grandparents went through at least one change of ownership before it was bought by current owners Barry and Eunice Jones for £28,000 in 1984.The couple said they were 'pleasantly shocked' when they found out from a neighbour that the prime minister had been born in their home.Grandmother-of-three Eunice, 80, a retiree who previously worked as a hospital administrator, said: 'It's great Andy was born here.'My daughters have always wanted to know if he was born in one of their bedrooms but he might have been born in one of the downstairs rooms.'We heard Andy's speech - now our house is famous. It hasn't changed much. 'It would have had the same three bedrooms but we have made downstairs a bit bigger.'We haven't met Andy but we did walk past him when in London once near the House of Commons. We nearly said hello, but he was on his phone and we didn't want to disturb him.'However our son-in-law met him on a train, and he told him that we lived in his old house. Perhaps it will get a blue plaque here one day.'Barry, 75, who worked in further education before he became a lay preacher at Aintree University Hospital, said it was such a shock when he was told it was Burnham's first house he ordered the PM's birth certificate to make sure.The neighbour who filled them in on all this history is 88-year-old Dolores Mahar who has been living in her half of the building since local pop group The Beatles were still recording.Mrs Mahar told the Daily Mail: 'I remember my son playing with Andy. His family were lovely and so was Andy but he was a bit of a feisty boy.'My son and him used to have a few tiffs and threw balls over the garden. But it was just boys' stuff.'Andy and his parents moved out when he was still pretty young, and they went to Formby.'Mr Burnham repeatedly referred to the property in his speech in Liverpool on Tuesday while conjuring up an image of his family's humble roots and 'working class aspiration' to get on in life.Labour delegates listened in admiration as he told how his mother Eileen's parents – James and Catherine Murray who he referred to as Jimmy and Kitty, previously described by him as 'working-class Scousers' – had bought the house soon after the Second World War. Andy Burnham, right, is seen with his older brother Nick. 'With a good home, everything is possible. Without one, it feels like nothing is,' Mr Burnham saidHe recalled how their home was close to the conference venue where he was speaking.Making the property a cornerstone of his speech, Burnham said: 'For me, life truly has come full circle because this is where my story began. My grandad drove a lorry along these docks for Tate & Lyle.'My gran Kitty inherited the drive of her Irish ancestors. She walked three miles out of the bombed-out city after the war to put a deposit down on a house, without Jimmy's knowledge actually. I wouldn't do that to you John, wherever you are Chancellor!'She put a deposit down on a house. The house where I was born. It changed the fortunes of my family.'It was where my mum and dad started off, built a partnership and went on to create our own family home and filled it with life, love and laughter.'Burnham also praised his parents Eileen and Roy in his speech, saying they had given him 'a care for people' and had brought him 'forged by her faith, his politics and the values of this great city we are in again for our conference'.Mr Burnham's Liverpool-born father Roy, who died earlier this month from Alzheimer's disease, was a Post Office engineer. He added: 'They guided me to the point where I stand before you today. Ours is the same story of so many families, British families of my generation.'A story of working-class aspiration. A desire to get on and give back, never pulling up the ladder. And a post-war Britain that backed them to do it.' Barry and Eunice Jones, who now live in the house Andy Burnham was born in, are pictured hereTurning again to the house where he was born, he said: 'Our journey starts where I started, in the Old Roan, not far from here. With housing. A home.'That home on Keble Drive unlocked the aspiration in my mum and dad for a better life for us all and has taken us to places we could never have imagined.'With a good home, everything is possible. Without one, it feels like nothing is. Kids can't have a good start in life. Families can't have good health, physical and mental health.'Mr Burnham previously revealed that his grandmother moved out of Liverpool after the death of his grandfather, and moved to live nearer his mother.He disclosed in an interview in 2009 when he was Health Secretary how Kitty died aged 91 in 2002.