This summer I’ll be backing Jeremy Corbyn for leader of the Labour party.

That’s not because I believe him to be some kind of messianic, cult-like figure with all the answers to the problems we face. Rather it’s because beneath his rise lie many of the fundamental shifts that are happening to our economy, our society and ultimately our politics.

They are, in part, why the membership elected him last September, and why so many will in all likelihood vote for him again.

As a party we can either seek to embrace and shape those changes or swim against them and the strong tide of change they represent.

Because two things are clear.

The first is that retreat into the security-blanket politics of either the 1980s or the 1990s is not the answer. The only issue is how we go forward.

And second, the future of our party should not be about this personality or that – a growing trend that has, quite rightly, alarmed many. The problems that confront us are so much deeper.

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Even if we could combine Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Barbara Castle, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown into one leader, they couldn’t cope with the crisis Labour is now facing.

That’s because it’s an existential crisis of Labour and social democracy happening the world over. To try to find the one leader who can somehow solve the crisis for us is to miss the point.

Twentieth-century social democracy was always about electing other people to do our bidding. It’s the parliamentary road to socialism we have heard about recently (rather than the revolutionary road). And this is underpinned by the role MPs played in that process.

But that worked when MPs and the central state could make the political weather. Increasingly, we can’t. Increasingly, power is both global and local, with corporations and citizens – not with MPs.

Ultimately though, we have to be honest with ourselves. Corbyn’s leadership has struggled

Changes that are being enhanced by technological innovation (social media being a case in point) are happening at an increasing rate. The top-down, vertical power relationships of the past are being replaced by a more evenly distributed, bottom-up variety.

It could be reasonably argued the current fault line between the “membership” and the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) is in fact a symptom of this changing power relationship.

So let me be clear – Corbyn is the best candidate because, in his own way, he understands some of the economic and moral challenges we face, and is the product of a deep desire for something new.

But let me also be clear that electing Corbyn, in and of itself, is necessary but far from sufficient. As well as again electing him a whole set of other meaningful relationships and ideas need to be put in place.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘We must also acknowledge that the leadership of the party has not been good enough yet – that is Corbyn’s fault, just as much as it is mine and my colleagues.’ Jeremy Corbyn with Clive Lewis at a leadership rally in 2015 Photograph: Albanpix Ltd/Rex Shutterstock

Firstly, we in the PLP must build meaningful relationships whichever leader we’re backing – because there is no perfect leader. Johnny Reynolds and I did it recently: two colleagues from supposedly different wings of the party who recognise the game has changed and that Labour needs to change with it. That means a broad-based internal alliance of all who recognise this and want to see both electoral reform and broader, progressive cross-party alliances.

Such progressive alliances are now essential not just because that is the only way we can beat the Tories but because that is the way we will make better decisions and take more of the country with us. Frankly, I want to be in government with Caroline Lucas, not against her – and certainly not in permanent opposition.

Second, we must build an alliance not just of all Labour and progressive party members but activists in all elements of civil society. That’s because politics from the top down is no longer enough – change will be driven from the bottom up. The job of the political leader will increasingly move away from top-down legislative change to one of legitimising and helping enable change from below.

For those MPs and their supporters wedded to the old power relationships of the past, this will not be an easy transition. Perhaps that’s one of the advantages, for me, of being from the new intake of MPs – the ability to not only accept such change but to encourage it as well.

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Ultimately, though, we have to be honest with ourselves. Corbyn’s leadership has struggled. There are good reasons for this – not least the almost permanent attack from the media and sections of the PLP, which have been destabilising from day one. But we must also acknowledge that the leadership of the party has not been good enough yet – that is Corbyn’s fault, just as much as it is mine and my colleagues. Alliances have not yet been built; big ideas have not yet been developed.

So we must use this campaign to show how we will run the party and government in a way befitting some of the challenges outlined here. It’s a huge opportunity that puts us in the shop window. Last year’s leadership campaign promised so much – this time we must deliver on it.

Ultimately we must use the campaign to seize the future and help Labour escape from its past – or it will die, whether Jeremy Corbyn is leader or not.