What is Keir Starmer doing to push back the populists? Not nearly enough. We have a plan to take them on | Chris Powell

There is much to learn from the New Labour playbook. We were disciplined, innovative, robust and proactive – and we won

• Labour needs complete ‘reset’ to defeat threat posed by Reform UK, says strategist

• Chris Powell is an election strategy analyst and advised the Labour party for more than 20 years

The next general election will be no ordinary democratic contest. Not the usual swing of the pendulum this way or that. It will be a key moment in the history of our democracy – and it could be less than three years away.

Be in no doubt: populists represent a new and terrifying threat to the kind of free elections and free society we cherish, but now take for granted.

Chris Powell is an election strategy analyst and advised the Labour party for more than 20 years. David Cowan, who co-authored this article, is founder of Forensics, a data and consumer research consultancy. They are co-founders of winningagainstpopulists.com