LibDems win Council seat in Sheffield

This man, John MacDonald, isn't a very distant relative. He is the grandson of Clem's brother, Tom. Cath Attlee is also a granddaughter of Tom, so I'm not sure whether they're brother and sister or cousins.

They did write a letter supporting Corbyn, but it wasn't very controversial. I must admit that I didn't like the way they started the letter 'As Clem Attlee's great niece and great nephew...' So what? I don't see that their opinion is more important than anybody else's. On the other hand, I don't understand why MacDonald has been suspended, but not Cath Attlee. It all sounds a bit dodgy.

Daphne if you read the link it does not say he was suspended because of the letter , so nothing doggy, well what is claimed in the link is not true so thst is dodgy.

Very distant descendant?
I have six great nephews, all of whom I send presents to.
Another one due this month.

There is no evidence of anything else he has written on social media to warrant expulsion. You have written far worse, Annie. You have copied lots of Michael Foster's insults. Did you get your vote?

I think he started like that to show his historic credentials, daphne.

So you follow him do you Jen? This is not about me, it is about your claim that he was suspended for writing that letter and the link does not say that

What it says is that he cannot think of any other reason to be suspended. He only uses facebook and you can follow his posts on that. I went as far back as Tunisia. Lots of photos of his trip round Auschwitz, etc.
I don't follow anyone. I'm not on facebook. I looked at the link from his link, because I was looking to see if there was a reason. There isn't.
You must know it's impossible to prove a negative.
If that is not the reason he was suspended, the party should tell him what was. If they've found out something that he said that was wrong, they should be able to give him proof.
I presume you would expect no less.

Jrn, you claimed the reason was the letter , you want it to be true but it doesn't make it true

@annie

You've misunderstood me. I think John MacDonald's claim is a bit dodgy.

I just can't believe that the Labour Party suspended him for no reason. I've read some of the posts by people claiming that there are conspiracies to get rid of Corbyn supporters. Quite honestly, as an outsider, I think there is all sorts going on, but many of these posts are bordering on paranoia.

I agree with you, annie, that's there's almost certainly more to this than the media is reporting.

@dj

He doesn't just use Facebook. For a start, he has his own website. johndwmacdonald.com/about/

For all I know, he contributes to other sites, not necessarily using his own name.

THIS was the post, which allegedly caused the suspension:

www.facebook.com/johndwmacdonald/posts/1080264912094610

@Annie

I apologise. John MacDonald is only a distant descendant of Attlee and not even a blood relative. Cath Attlee is, as I stated, the granddaughter of Tom Attlee, Clem's brother.

John MacDonald is the grandson of Olive Millar, Clem's sister-in-law. Olive married Admiral Sir Algernon Willis, who had a daughter Joan Willis, who married Roderick MacDonald (John's father).

I knew all those family history detective skills would be useful one day .

I really can't take him very seriously, if he has to boast about being a relative of Attlee to get himself noticed.

Now then...

I'm a descendant of Captain James Cook - really! Admittedly, Cook doesn't have any direct descendants and admittedly it's only by marriage (well, a few of them) and most people with North East ancestors are probably related to one of the families involved in some way or other, but I'm sure it makes me worth listening to (or maybe I'm just deluded ).

This is John MacDonald's grandfather:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Willis

Why doesn't he mention this ancestor, rather than Attlee?

Why did he say he was suspended because of that letter when it was a lie . Atlee descendant my foot,

Ooooh Daphne, your not deluded and yes you are worth listening to

To be fair to him, I think that was a mistake on his part, because he was given the wrong date. It seems the suspension related to a picture of Hitler from 2015.

I also think the suspension is ridiculous. Although it has a quote from Hitler, it's obvious to anybody with half a brain cell that he wasn't praising Hitler but comparing him to somebody else (the government?) Either the suspension was carried out by an automatic bot or somebody with no sense of irony.

I think he's right to feel aggrieved, but I don't like the way, he's 'pulled rank' by mentioning his relationship to Attlee, especially as it isn't true. Other social media sites have now repeated the 'Clem's great nephew purged' myth. Nobody has challenged the relationship. In fact, his grandfather was an Admiral, who ordered Jews to be turned back from Palestine against the government's orders. His father was also a Vice-Admiral, but that doesn't seem to fit the role of being a good socialist.

Pity he wasn't truthful about his -historical credentials !

I don't hold people responsible for the sins of their fathers, but it makes me cross when people use their family (or alleged family in this case) to boost their credentials.

Perhaps he is line to be selected as a labour MP

I think he lives in Scotland, so good luck to him against the SNP!

Surprised he hasn't claimed to be a decendent of William Wallace

A few more people purged on here for no good reason.

tompride.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/labour-party-purges-grandmother-for-saying-mps-like-to-look-after-number-1/

Daphne, about MacDonald.
My husband's brother's wife says she is my grandaughters' great aunt. Is she, or is she not, because that's what we have always thought.
If she is not their great aunt, then she is not my sons' aunt.
If my grandaughter marries, is she not my granddaughter's husband's great aunt? Therefore is he not her great nephew by marriage?
That seems to me to be the relationship of MacDonald to Attlee.

Let's hope Corbyn doesn't add her to his list of his alleged abusers,

Strictly speaking, he's not a great nephew, although it's confusing when relatives by marriage, etc are included.

As I mentioned before, I am a direct descendant of somebody who married Captain James Cook's wife's sister, but that doesn't make him an ancestor of mine.

My point is that he needs to mention any link in the first place to make his point valid. Of course, it makes for better headlines.

John MacDonald was not related by blood to Attlee. He was a child when Attlee died, so wouldn't have known him that well. His grandmother was Attlee's wife's sister, who married an admiral. There is quite a bit written about this admiral, including a lengthy obituary. I would be amazed, if he had a socialist bone in his body.

I have no idea whether John MacDonald is a 'true' socialist. I have no reason to believe he isn't, but by claiming that he's Attlee's great nephew, presumably to make his case seem more shocking, he's opened up his family background to scrutiny.

Attlee himself came from an upper middle class family and went to public school and Oxford. He had been an officer in WW1. There's nothing wrong with that, which is why I find it hypocritical when people go on about people's backgrounds and seem to think all Labour politicians should have a working class background.

Do great nephews have to be blood relatives? If you only count direct descendants, all family trees are going to have to be very limited. Mine's a roll of wallpaper and that's without the Danish family on it.

I am a descendant of the brother of the mother of John Bowes of the Bowes Museum which makes me related by marriage to the queen. Apparently that makes me indirectly related to Robert Bruce. My husband was descended from border reivers, so his family probably stole livestock from mine, so his father used to say.
I still consider myself to be a true socialist. Never met the queen.

I see nothing wrong with him saying he was related to Attlee to show his socialist credentials.

Why would Corbyn add her to his list? She said that Corbyn had had a huge election win.
She was obviously purged for saying something good about Corbyn.
Apart from which, it wasn't Corbyn's list. Corbyn has other things to do than make lists like that. It was a list of MPs who had said something against Corbyn.

I've just worked out the relationship and it's exactly the same as my grandchildren to their grandad's brother's wife.
When my grandson next asks, shall I tell him that the woman who is proud to be his great aunt isn't really?
He is quite interested in relationships.

If every party leader had the time Corbyn has to make lists of those who said anything which wasn't flattering sbout him parliment would come to s halt , he needs to grow up

As for the woman who flattered Corbyn, another baroness ?