Parliament was in recess when Tony Blair called Alan Johnson up to his flat above No 11. The former prime minister was relaxed, padding around in his socks, while his son Leo played with his toys. Johnson, then the education secretary, spoke about his own son from his second marriage, who was a similar age.
“Tony said: ‘Oh you’re a father?’” recalled Johnson. “I said: ‘Tony, I had three kids by the age of 20!’ He looked at me and said: ‘So you really are working-class …’”
It may be almost a quarter of a century since Johnson introduced paid paternity leave during his time as the trade and industry secretary, but working-class fathers are still being shortchanged, the former minister has told the Guardian.
Johnson has added his name to a growing number of current and former MPs and senior Labour figures calling for six weeks of paternity leave paid at 90% of earnings, capped at £1,200 a week, with the offer extended to self-employed fathers, who are currently the only parents with no entitlement to paid leave.
The author married his first wife, Judith, when he was 18, adopting her daughter and going on to have two more children by the time he was 20. His fourth child, with his second wife, was born when he was a minister in the New Labour government in his 50s.
Johnson recalls that when his second child was born, he came home from work on a night shift in the postal service to find a note from his wife telling him she had gone to hospital to have a baby. He slept for a few hours and went back to work.
“Men were meant to go down the pub, buy everyone a drink, smoke a cigar, and leave all the kind of hard work to their partners,” he said. “By the time my fourth child was born, it was practically compulsory to be at the birth – things move on and the law has to move with it.”
Working-class fathers are still far less likely to take up the current paternity leave of £187.18 a week for two weeks, among the least generous offerings in Europe. According to analysis of HMRC data by the campaign group the Dad Shift, 90% of paternity leave in 2024-25 was claimed by fathers in the UK’s top half of earners – those who generally make more than £37,800 a year – and 95% of claims for shared parental leave were made by fathers or partners in the top 50% bracket.
Many fathers and partners would still be in the position of having to go back to work the day after the birth of a child, just like he did, added Johnson.
“The statistics about who is actually accessing paternity leave is just stunning. It shows that it’s a class issue,” he said. “It’s great that more prosperous dads are taking paternity leave, but we’ve got to do something to increase the take-up among the lower paid.”
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that introducing the new policy of six weeks at 90% of pay in the forthcoming budget would cost the government an additional £1bn, but increased tax receipts from women going back to work could reduce that cost to £220m.
Asked if the government should introduce the change in the next budget, despite the strong economic headwinds faced by the chancellor, John Healey, Johnson was in no doubt. “Absolutely. In government terms, the cost is money down the back of the sofa,” he said. “And actually if the finances are preventing couples from having children, ultimately that is bad for society. Society needs children, mankind needs to procreate. So encouraging childbirth is good for society, full stop.”
The policy would be popular, and unlikely to be opposed, he added. “If it was, in pure political terms, it’s a good dividing line for Andy Burnham and the Labour party to take,” he said. “It’s an excellent dividing line.”
