Murder She Wrote star had family links with top politicians in UK and Australia

Angela Lansbury, the grande dame of American TV crime drama, had close family links with senior British politicians, including top Tory Penny Mordaunt.

Dame Angela was the cousin of the grandmother of the Portsmouth North MP, who this year came close to making the final two in the race for the Tory leadership and is now leader of the Commons.

The actress, who died on Tuesday aged 96, was best known in political circles, however, as the granddaughter of George Lansbury, who was leader of the Labour Party from 1932 until 1935, when he was succeeded by Clement Attlee.

Dame Angela’s father, Edgar Lansbury, was also a prominent politician and supporter of the Suffragettes. A member of both the Communist Party and the Labour Party, he was mayor of Poplar and was jailed over an illegal rates rebellion.

George Lansbury was first elected to parliament in 1910, but resigned his seat in 1912 to…