Kemi is right about absent fathers (2025)

Kemi Badenoch MP keeps being compared to Margaret Thatcher. But the truth is she has taken on the persona of a different, though equally familiar, character this week: the boy who calls out the Emperor with no clothes. In this case the Tory leadership contender is saying the inconvenient truth that absent fathers are compromising their children’s future.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Badenoch argued that:

‘I think we ran into trouble decades ago when we were very critical of single parenthood. It sounded as if we were always talking about single mums. Where are the dads? Why are the dads not there? Why are they not looking after their families?… If you look at the prison population, the vast majority of the male prison population did not grow up with their fathers. If fathers look after their children better, they will be less likely to end up in prison. And those are the sorts of things that we need to talk about more.’

She is right that an earlier generation of Conservatives wagged their fingers at single mothers. This angered anyone who had witnessed mothers heroically raising their children without a second income, a second pair of eyes or second pair of arms to rely upon. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary raised by a single mother, has spoken publicly of her anger at the Tory stigmatising of lone parents.

Badenoch has zeroed in on the missing piece: where are the men? Too many are failing to raise their children. Among Black Caribbean households, for example,63 per centlive in households headed by a lone parent, usually the mother.Among the poorest,just 19 per centhave a father in the home.

It’s not just that two people pooling resources (money, time, energy, love) can give their children an advantage over those raised by a solo parent, who logic dictates can draw only on more limited resources. It’s that children need their dad.

Fatherless families must rely on the self sacrifice of mothers (and sometimes also grandparents). These women discharge their duties admirably, but for many looking after the children means renouncing their own dreams and aspirations. When they forfeit the salary, the promotion, the opportunity to join a start-up, the rest of us feel the loss too in terms of lost tax revenues, lost innovations, and lost economic activity.

Tragically, in many instances, even these sacrifices cannot avert the dire consequences of fatherless families.Look at the prison population: as Badenoch pointed out, the majority of the men there grew up without a father at home. Look at the ‘fatherless daughter syndrome’ that afflicts young women in terms of dysfunctional relationships and lack of confidence. And consider that the converse is also true: childrenwho at five months old have an engaged father enjoy greater cognitive development than a child whose father is absent. As atoddler, they will bebetteratproblem solving; and at three yearsthey will boast a higher IQ.

How to make fathers stick to their progeny should be a national strategy. And although it has yet to gain much political traction, grassroot groups have been prioritising supporting fathers for some time. As part of a review of family hubs – community centres that deliver support services for families with children under 19 – published next week by the Centre for Social Justice, we visited more than a dozen of these community centres across the country.

In Durham, one team had commissioned the Fatherhood Institute charity to deliver a three-day ‘dad champions’ training programme to their staff. Following a discussion with a group of local fathers who reported feeling like spare parts and secondary parent figures, the staff wanted a ‘dads’ champion’ in each of their services, including probation, youth justice, education and health. Recognising that their workforce is primarily female, the teams have employed a dad/male carer coordinator to support dads’ champions and establish dads’ peer support groups among local parents. They now teach participating fathers baby massage and the ‘Triple P for Baby’ parenting programme for dads.

The family hub team in Halton, meanwhile, after their ‘dad champions’ training,have opted tochange their schedule to run a dads’ group on Saturdays to make it more accessible. They have also been made aware that separated fathers need to be especially encouraged to engage with their children.

We visited the family hub inBentilee, near Stoke on Trent, to see how the charity Thrive at Five is also encouraging fathers into their playgroups. One father told us that, ‘I know it’s important having a positive male role model within a community group, and when you’re that positive person for a lot of children that may not have that in their lives, it feels like you’re doing something for their family.’

These family hubs are sending out a message: fathers matter. Kemi Badenoch is right to broadcast it loud and clear.