Clement Attlee took in Jewish child refugee before Second World War

Clement Attlee took in a Jewish child refugee months before the Second World War, it has been revealed. 

The Labour leader sponsored a Jewish mother and her children through his local church, allowing them to leave Germany and stay in the UK. 

Paul Willer, 90, was one of the children and now lives in Gloucestershire. 

He lived with Mr Attlee and his wife for four months at their home in northwest London when he was 10-years-old. 

He told The Guardian: "It was a remarkable kindness, a generous offer. He did not try and glorify himself in any way. He did it for the right reasons."

Mr Willer is set to meet Mr Attlee's granddaughter to mark the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport programme in which about 10,000 Jewish children were brought to Britain. 

The former child refugee recalled leaving Germany in 1939 with his brother, a move spurred by his mother Franziska witnessing the antisemitic violence of Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938.

Franziska's brother Otto, who was based in London, contacted the Rev William Hewett, the rector of Stanmore, who then found two local families willing to take a boy each - one of whom was the Attlees. 

“He was a gentle man and a gentleman," Mr Willer told the newspaper. "He was very good with the children and affectionate." 

At the time, Mr Attlee was the opposition leader while Neville Chamberlain was pursing a policy of appeasement. He went on to lead Labour to a landslide election victory in 1945. 

Jo Roundell Greene, the late prime minister’s granddaughter and now a Liberal Democrat councillor from Somerset, said her late mother, Felicity, “mentioned having a refugee to stay”.

Looking ahead to the 80th anniversary meeting, she told the Guardian: “It will be an emotional afternoon.”