PAUL Goodman, Wycombe's new Conservative MP, focused on the effects of the breakdown of family life when he made his maiden speech in the House of Commons last Wednesday.

The MP also warned of the dangers of an over-powerful government and the threat of an over-powerful Europe, when he spoke in the debate on the Queen's speech.

And he reiterated his commitment to the "One Nation Conservatism" of Disraeli, saying his party had to reclaim ownership of the phrase.

Talking about crime and the causes of crime, he said: "In my constituency a generation of young people are growing up who have never known the warmth of family life that some of us take for granted."

He said young men who had never known their fathers had no male role models apart from slightly older men active in the drugs community.

These youngsters were more likely to be excluded from school and to drift into crime and though this might bring money for a while, it did not bring hope, he added.

"After a while it can become almost impossible for a such a young person to imagine breaking out of the cycle of crime, family break-up and more poverty of hope," he said.

Single men were idle, while single mums did the work of two, said Mr Goodman.

The Government wanted to get parents into work by means-tested credit schemes, he said, but the Conservatives wanted to give parents more choice about work and care though a simpler tax and benefit system

Without stable families and their habits there would be no educated workforce, no ethos of self sacrifice, no voluntary sector, no charities, clubs or civil society, he said.

"And yes," he said, "There is such a thing as society." Mr Goodman was referring to Lady Thatcher, who once infamously denied there was any such thing. "The challenge of reconciling individual freedom with social obligation is perhaps the greatest challenge of our time," he said.