International Men’s Day

Sam Rushworth Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) for leading this debate and for his powerful and courageous speech.

We have come a long way in 12 months. Twelve months ago, as the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on men and boys’ issues, it was my privilege to lead the debate on International Men’s Day. At the time, people came up to me and said I was being whispered about and had better show my feminist credentials, so I am really grateful to those who have showed up today and for all the fabulous contributions from our female colleagues.

I feel a bit for the Secretary of State, because one of the calls over the last 12 months has been for a men’s health strategy, and most of our speeches today have focused on a new call about paternity leave. I can only say that he has been a victim of his own success, because he has listened and delivered. I was so proud yesterday evening to join him and fellow Members of Parliament in Downing Street, where the Prime Minister announced the men’s health strategy. I was joined by somebody from my constituency who runs peer support groups for men with mental health struggles. The funding for many of these groups is under threat, and the strategy makes it clear that we need that intervention, so I am really grateful for that.

My hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Maya Ellis) just stole my dad joke, so I will cross that one off the list. I’ve got a new pen that can write under water. It writes other words, too. I hope we can store all of these dad jokes in a “dadabase” somewhere.

I would like to take a moment to address the importance of fatherhood, what it means to me and why the call for paid paternity leave is so important. Linking that to mental health, I want to say that in some of the darkest moments in my life—when, like a lot of people, I experienced depression, my self-worth was lacking and I felt that I was failing at everything I tried—it was my children, and picturing their faces and my responsibility as a dad, that pulled me through.

Some of the happiest moments in my life were in those early days, holding a newborn child. I remember vividly holding in my arms my youngest daughter, looking into her face and feeling like I had been given this precious gift from heaven. All I knew about her at that time was that she was precious. I could not predict how she would turn out to be. She is now a 12-year-old, and she is going through all the emotions and stages that girls at that age go through. When she tries my patience, I still remember that moment, and I still say to my wife, “She is precious.” We absolutely adore her.

My oldest daughter is the one whose birthday party I broke my leg at a few months ago when I was roller-skating with her around the disco to “Mr Brightside”. I remember being up in the night with her when she had colic. Those early weeks are so important, and far too often women are left alone to recover from their surgery while the fathers are missing and not having those moments to bond. A really important call coming from this debate is for fathers and their children to have that precious time together.

I met this week with the Minister for School Standards, and we talked about the need for parenting classes. There is no shame in saying that sometimes we need skills to help us develop our children’s values. I am certainly a better dad today than I was 18 years ago when my son was born, so I hope we can take that up, too.