Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee's granddaughter Jo Roundell Greene to run for Liberal Democrats

Jo Roundell Greene will stand for the seat in Yeovil

Labour's post war Prime Minister Clement Attlee (PA Archive/PA Images)

Presiding over the post-war Labour government, Clement Attlee oversaw some of the most significant reforms of the 20th century, introducing the National Health Service, nationalising one fifth of the British economy, and granting independence to India.

Now his granddaughter Jo Roundell Greene is hoping to follow in his footsteps and enter parliament - except she is running for the Liberal Democrats in Yeovil.

Currently the deputy leader of South Somerset District Council, she wil stand for the seat after their previous parliamentary spokeswoman, Daisy Benson, withdrew citing personal reasons.

"Knocking on doors I am struck by the number of people who have told me how badly they believe our area has been served in parliament since the last election," she told the Somerset Live wesbsite.

She added: “Our NHS is in a dire state despite the excellent work of its dedicated staff, while schools in our area face £3m cuts by 2019 because of the Conservatives. If elected I will fight to make sure we export helicopters from Yeovil, not jobs."

Named amongst the best councillors in the country at the Local Government Awards in 2016, Ms Roundell Greene is a wife, mother and grandmother and has worked in a chicken factory, as a bricklayer, and as a cleaner.

As the granddaughter of Clement Attlee however, she is following in the footsteps of one of the 20th Century's most important politicians.

After working as a social worker in London's East End, he joined the Labour Party before going to serve in the army in the First World War.

On his return he became the MP for Stepney in 1922, serving as a junior minister before going on to lead the party in 1935.

During World War Two, Attlee was a highly successful deputy prime minister in Churchill's coalition government.

Then in 1945, when Labour swept to power in a landslide election victory, he became prime minister, overseeing the creation of the National Health Service and the nationalisation of coal mining and the steel industry.

He played a crucial role in supporting Aneurin Bevin's Cold War diplomacy, and in accelerating independence for India, a cause which he had supported for many years.

​After Labour's defeat in the general election of 1951, he struggled to control infighting within the party and he resigned four years later, accepting a peerage at the same time.

He died on 8 October 1967.