Alan Johnson: With David Miliband as our leader, Labour can move on from limbo into electability

The response of the Left reminded him of the Brecht poem which ends: "Would it not be easier to dissolve the people and elect another?"

Poor Jim Callaghan, who'd agreed to stay on to try to steady the ship ended up, in Healey's vivid phrase "in limbo and in purgatory at the same time".

Yet, in the 1979 election, Labour's share of the vote was a healthy 36.9 per cent (higher than the Conservatives achieved in May) and they moved quickly into a substantial lead in the opinion polls.

It was Labour's internal debate about how to react to defeat, with all its rancorous self-loathing and its apparent motto of "no compromise with the electorate", that consigned us to almost two decades of opposition.

Those who predicted a repeat performance (like those who said we'd emerge from the General Election behind the Lib Dems) have been disappointed.

We may be in limbo but we are clearly not returning to purgatory.

The leadership contest may be far too long but it's more likely to bore the public than disgust them and the spirit of mutual respect among five decent and able politicians augurs well for a future beyond the acidity of the TBGB years.

Living in limboland is difficult for we former Cabinet Ministers temporarily shadowing our previous positions.

Our default position is to defend the policies we implemented. Until a new leadership is in place, there can be little meaningful change.

We need to try to stop the government from abandoning the schools building programme, plunging the NHS into internal structural chaos and reducing both the number and the powers of police officers.

Harriet Harman is making an excellent job of her unenviable temporary position and intends to use the next few months to destroy the Government's tendentious arguments on the economy.

In my view, there are three particularly important aspects.

First, to explain that, like other countries, we borrowed money to protect people's savings, avoid repossessions and keep workers in

their jobs.

Second, to remind the public how, during the election campaign the Tories denied that they would increase VAT and the Lib Dems pledged vehement opposition to such a measure.

Third to expose the fact that, far from the public finances being worse than the new government expected, as the Office for Budgetary Responsibility confirmed, the pound and gilts strengthened during the election, unemployment will be 200,000 lower than feared, tax revenues are coming in much more strongly and Alistair Darling was if anything being over pessimistic.

There is no excuse for the Lib Dems' volte-face.

But you can't win a football match by simply standing in your own goal mouth. And attacking effectively requires a game plan as well as a team captain.

The task of turning the party from defeat to victory took four leaders after 1979. I think that this time we can do it with one – David Miliband.

We worked together closely as Ministers of State at Education and again as Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary over the past year but my support isn't based just on his prodigious ability, his clear thinking or his devotion to the Labour Party (demonstrated once again when he rejected the prestigious job of European High Representative last year in order to remain a Labour MP). It's those attributes combined with his vision, his eloquence and the fact that he is a fully rounded human being.

During the leadership debates he has set out important ideas on education, climate change and policing. But if speeches could win elections, David's Keir Hardie lecture would have ended the contest.

Rightly given a standing ovation by a non-partisan audience, and praised by Jon Cruddas as one of the most important speeches made by a

Labour politician in recent years, it displayed the spirit of hope and inspiration that has been missing in our politics as too often we governed in prose, rather than poetry (to paraphrase the great US Democrat – Mario Cuomo).

His exposition on Labour values such as solidarity, reciprocity and mutuality and their relevance to the issues we face today was the work of someone with a large brain but a bigger heart.

In my first month working with David seven years ago at Education, he asked me to do him a favour and cover for him in an end of session debate on quadratic equations sponsored by a backbencher.

It wasn't my natural territory, and come to think of it I've yet to have the favour returned.

I'll consider us quits if he wins in September. And, if he does, I think he'll win again when the General Election comes. And you don't need to understand quadratic equations to realise that could be sooner than the coalition planned.

Alan Johnson is the former Home Secretary and Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle.