'It's crucial we reform the benefits system for the sake of our youth'

Unlike many MPs, Jonathan Ashworth knows exactly what it's like to survive a difficult childhood. And it's those experiences that drive him to ensure Labour doesn't abandon our young people

- By David Williamson

LABOUR will make a "monumental" mistake if it steers clear of welfare reform after last year's humiliation, one of the party's greatest living examples of social mobility has warned. Jonathan Ashworth whose father was a croupier at Manchester's Playboy club and whose mother worked as a bunny girl at the same venue - faced challenges in his childhood far greater than the hard knocks which come with frontline politics.

He cared for his alcoholic dad, ensuring there was food in the fridge and not just wine and lager.

It also fell on him to make sure there was tea on the table in the evening.

"For a lot of my teenage years, I was dealing with him when he was very drunk," he admits.

Mr Ashworth, 47, speaks of his father with love but he is acutely aware of the difficulties faced by the children of alcoholics across the nation.

He is also worried that just under a million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in work, education or training, and preventing them being abandoned to a life on benefits is a personal priority.

"I fundamentally believe that our system of welfare is holding people back," he says.

No one can accuse Mr Ashworth of not pursuing his ambitions. He won a place at Durham University, became national secretary of Labour Students and as a special adviser worked closely with Gordon Brown, both when he was Chancellor and Prime Minister.