Fathers are being “airbrushed” out of society, warns a former leader of the Conservative Party.
Iain Duncan Smith says many boys are turning to gang leaders and drug dealers for role models to replace absent fathers.
Girls who have never known the empathetic, unconditional love of a father are also left vulnerable to early, unprotected and often regretted sex, he says.
His comments follow a recent Government move to let doctors provide women with fertility treatment without considering the child’s need for a father.
Mr Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, last week tabled an amendment to block the measure. But he was defeated by 292 votes to 217.
Responding to the result in an article for The Times newspaper Mr Duncan Smith described it as “just another case of how, bit by bit, we are airbrushing men and their responsibilities from society.”
He continued: “Too many children are failed because their fathers play no part in their lives; I wonder how long it will be before we finally admit that we need to put men back and rebuild our fractured society.”