Dear wannabe leaders of Britain. What a lot of you there are! I’ve been writing about leadership and the craft of politics for 25 years and I’m sick of watching the same mistakes repeated. I’m keen to help. So listen up Nigel, Kemi, Zack, Ed, Ed, Andy, Angela and Wes – and you Keir, it’s never too late to learn.

1) TL;DR: If you have no time for impertinent journalists, here’s the executive summary. You need a plan, plus strategy and tactics to deliver it. You need a narrative to explain it to voters. You need the charisma and application to take your party, the civil service and the country with you. And you need to build a team to do the bits that you cannot accomplish alone.

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2) You need a plan: Bromides about helping the less well-off or curbing migration are not a plan. Andy, ‘Manchesterism’ is a slogan and a vibe, not a plan. Angela, being working class and mouthy isn’t a plan. Wes, you’re a great communicator but what is your NHS plan? To all Labour pretenders: what would you actually do differently?

3) You need a story: Narrative is not some optional extra for politicians with projects and ‘isms’ – it is essential. Tell the country who you are, who and what you are for and who and what you are against. Give reasons. Labour could have restricted welfare spending if they had argued that reform was morally needed to save people from worklessness. Instead, they framed it as a cost-cutting........

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