Any embattled Prime Minister has dark nights of the soul — by Rishi Sunak

You lie awake in the Downing Street flat wondering whether you are the problem, or whether the job is just impossible in the current circumstances. When the military bands start practising on Horse Guards at 5am, it is a relief. You now have an excuse to get up.

The truth is that the struggles of a premiership are nearly always a mix of the two: your shortcomings and the challenges of the moment. Yet there’s little doubt that these are increasingly arduous times for incumbents.

My last G7 was in Italy during the general election campaign. Given the state of the polls, those closest to me were worried that it would be a humiliating experience, that I’d be ignored considering how soon I was expected to receive the order of the boot from the electorate.

The summit was, actually, an enjoyable respite from the travails of the campaign. Our host and Emmanuel Macron are the only ones still in office. All the rest have either been defeated at the ballot box or forced to step down.

In the past fortnight, I have been in several European capitals and the conversations are all strikingly similar. Almost everywhere, the leader is unpopular, the populists are hammering at the door, the economy is in trouble, the fiscal challenges have been heightened by the need to increase defence spending and there is a sense that the state just can’t deliver any more.

The trials of incumbency, though, show no sign of denting Andy Burnham’s palpable desire to become one. What lessons should he learn?

For one, political capital depreciates more quickly than ever before. Burnham must recognise that if he reaches No10, he’ll never have more power than on his first day in the job. It’s vital he has a clear and achievable plan for what he wants to do in those opening hours.

Just being a better communicator won’t be enough. If Burnham is to buck the trend, he’ll have to know not just that he wants the job, but why he wants it and what he intends to do.

–Sunak is former Prime Minister of United Kingdom