John Denham says that Labour is in denial about how much it needs to change to win power again. Although the party has accepted the scale its defeat in May, it has not faced up to "how big the challenge is".

"We have to rethink the last 13 years. We achieved a great deal, but it was built on a model of economic and social change that can’t be repeated", he tells the forthcoming Fabian Review.

In a wide-ranging interview, the shadow Communities Secretary gives a frank account of what went wrong in the election campaign and the political challenges now faced by Labour in opposition. 

This autumn party conference will herald a new leader and vision for the Labour party. The Fabians will use this moment to debate the next chapter of Labour's future, and our headline public fringe events will seek to indentify the causes to fight for and how best to translate this into an electoral fight back. Our invitation-only policy roundtables will seek to assess how we can instill fairness tests across a host of pubic policy areas.