For over twenty years I have campaigned tirelessly to make sure that all volunteers receive the recognition and Party involvement that their selfless efforts deserve.
The 1997 experience of Downing Street keeping the manifesto process to itself was unhappy. The Party needs to draw on wider talent to reinvent itself in government.
CCHQ and the Policy Board need to take a long hard look at our recent campaign, and work out what we can rapidly learn from it in terms of techniques and messages.
There is much more to politics than an affordable state and competitive taxes. But both will be indispensible for survival, let alone prosperity, after we leave the EU.