In recent months, Labour has given too many indications that it may not want to stay in government. This seems bizarre, as the group of ultra-rich men who now control the Tory Party – David Cameron's front bench in the Commons is known as "Millionaires' Row" – have few serious alternatives on offer to tackle the problems facing
the nation.

The endless quotes from Ministers attacking the Prime Minister are an example of this. They are anonymous, but they are not the background briefings which are common newspaper currency.

They are daggers between quotation marks aimed at denigrating one of the most successful finance and economic ministers in post-war European history and, moreover, a man who, as Prime Minister, has made real efforts to get world leaders to face up to the nature of the current economic-ecological global crisis.

When David Miliband stuck his head above the parapet with an earthy article roundly abusing Cameron and the vacuity of his "Millionaires' Row" front bench, the response from Labour insiders was to heap abuse on the Foreign Secretary. Again, the quotes were anonymous, but there was pure poison between quotation marks.

In war, it is said that the most important officer in an army is General Morale. In politics, it is General Will. That is the will to win and then stay in power – despite disastrous external circumstances, and the fatigue that all democracies have about a party after a decade in office – by doing the right things for the nation
by the values that the party exists to promote.

My test is simple. I can see nothing in any Tory idea that would benefit the people of South Yorkshire, and Rotherham in particular. The top Tory think-tank Policy Exchange argued recently that northern cities should close down and everyone move South. Of course, Cameron dismissed this nonsense, but it is what the Tories think about the North.

While the Conservatives focus on being the party of the South, Labour now must become a one-nation party. This means having policies to promote business and wealth creation and reward aspiration and ambition, as well as support for social justice and help for the poor.

The Conservatives have indicated that they will move straight to attack employment rights, help for kids in Sure Start, regional and municipal support and other measures that have introduced some fairness, especially in northern communities since 1997.

But how do Labour MPs explain to the public that the Conservatives are the problem, when so much time is spent saying that the current Labour government and leadership – Brown one day, Miliband the next – is no good?

Left-wing organisations like Compass put out a press release a week attacking Labour. Some Labour MPs never forgave Blair and Brown for winning one, let alone two and then three elections, and are doing their all to ensure it is fourth time unlucky. Instead, we need confidence and a will to win again, more than policy wonkery to the power of 10.

One man who understands this is the retired Tory politician, Norman Fowler. A sharply intelligent former journalist, Fowler is not remembered for any government achievements. He is proof that Ministers walk along the shoreline of history thinking they are leaving footprints just as the tide washes away the impression they made. But Fowler provides the blueprint for defeating the Tories.

His new book, A Political Suicide: The Conservatives' Voyage into the Wilderness, must be read by all Labour Ministers and MPs. He explains in precise detail how the Tories lost power with a brutal frankness that is light-years away from the self-serving vanities of most memoirs and diaries, including the damaging ones attacking Brown, published by ex-Ministers still in the Commons.

Fowler lifts the lid on the hatreds and internal feuds that destroyed the Major government. And everything he writes applies to Labour today. "The real truth about the Conservative party at Westminster in the 1990s is that it did not have the will to fight to retain power," writes Fowler. "A party which appears disunited, quarrelsome and frankly unpleasant will never win an election."

Can Compass, trade union leaders, and the anonymous briefers, please take note? Another key bit of advice is "do not slavishly woo the media" as invitations for private dinners at Chequers or No 10 never produce lasting benefits.

Fowler also warns: "Never exploit the personal." For each Labour MP who has complained about a Tory MP to some oversight committee, there is a Tory MP who can do the same in return. Individual MPs may feel holier than thou, but the mud we throw gets flung back – and sticks.

And a more surprising Fowler guideline is to bring in increased state funding for politics. We give nearly £30m a year to the Electoral Commission, possibly the most non-productive quango set up in Whitehall history. That money, given pro rata to parties with a cap on General Election spending, would, at a stroke, remove the issue of external funding and hence influence. It is amazing that after 11 years in power, Labour has still not bit on the bullet of state funding.

This is the first time in years of writing about politics and political books that I have ever urged a Tory tome on fellow Labour MPs and activists. But Fowler lays out in detail all the mistakes the Tories made, and we are making them one by one. Labour does not have to be like the Bourbons who forgot nothing and learnt nothing.

Fowler has given us a blueprint for survival and told us how we can stay in power. The question is: will anyone read him and apply
his lessons?


Denis MacShane is MP for Rotherham and a former Europe Minister.