Jesus and Mary are usually the centre of attention at the school Nativity play, but Iain Duncan Smith says society – and the church – would do well to pay more attention to Joseph.

Writing in the Daily Mail yesterday, the Tory MP said Joseph was the “forgotten hero” of the story of Christ’s birth.

The example set by Joseph in standing by Mary and Jesus offered, he said, a “very clear message for our own time” in which generations of young people are growing up without fathers.

Mr Duncan Smith said society seemed to have forgotten the important role played by fathers, from providing shelter and placing food on the table, to nurturing and supporting their children.

“It’s about providing the best male role model that a man can have,” he said.

Mr Duncan Smith pointed to the link between fatherlessness and family breakdown, high levels of truancy, anti-social behaviour, youth crime, street gangs and teenage pregnancy.

“But Joseph was not an absent father; he was there, with Mary and with Jesus; and the Christian Church, by underplaying the importance of this in the story of Christ, has missed a real example of selfless dedication and commitment which should resound today.”

He praised Joseph for his “courage and honour” in battling to find accommodation for his pregnant wife and protecting his family from Herod’s soldiers.

He said: “For some children, we might reasonably ask: where are the men of such courage and honour today?”