''The leadership of hopeless opposition is a gloomy affair," Disraeli wrote after the Conservative defeat in the election of 1865, "and there is little distinction when your course is not associated with the possibility of future power." On 9 June, the NS will host the first debate between the official candidates competing to become the next leader of the Labour Party.

Before 6 May, many within Labour feared that it would suffer a crushing defeat, and civil war would follow. In the event, the electorate returned a hung parliament, the party has remained united, and our coalition government is looking to be, at best, a fragile alliance of convenience indeed.

So, opposition need not be a gloomy affair, and power can be won back again. But first we need a robust, candid and intellectually challenging debate about the party's direction. Our debate, the first after nominations close, will contribute to a process of renewal.

All readers are welcome (see details). Above all, we want the contenders, in the words of Disraeli's great adversary William Gladstone, "to elevate your vision", for you may well be the next prime minister.