I used to have a copy of Right to be Heard by Ian Greer, although there was no mention of paying MPs £2,000 to put down a parliamentary question, a misdemeanour Greer was accused of by the Guardian at the start of the ‘cash for questions’ scandal.

Scott Colvin’s book is worth buying for two reasons. First, it is the first work to take full cognisance of the role of social media, with sections on both Facebook and Twitter and their use in campaigning and lobbying. It rightly advises against round robins and mass emails.

Second, unlike many of its predecessors, it casts the net wider than parliament. It shows the reader how to lobby the chief executive of a company, the council, developers and others.

Colvin began his professional life doing work experience on the Eastbourne Herald, as an MP’s assistant and a Tory councillor in Surrey; he has not lost sight of the simple truth that all politics is local.

I am not surprised that the Gurkha campaign for residency rights appears as a case study. It is a model of how to win a campaign, with its appeals to fairness, a strong emotional element, and a celebrity figurehead.

Tragically, it is also a model of how a government can get it wrong. Despite ministers such as Jacqui Smith warning that the government was heading for disaster, No 10 developed a tin ear, and woefully misjudged the situation.

There’s a good section on campaigning to save your local hospital from the Tory cuts. As the coalition cuts our schools, libraries, parks, community centres, police and hospitals, the advice the author offers will be valuable to hundreds of grassroots campaigns.

This is the first book on lobbying to appear since the expenses scandal, and I am glad that it doesn’t fall into the trap of denouncing politicians as corrupt and venal. It even veers towards sympathy in places. The author’s starting point is the right one: that the first job of an elected representative is to serve the public.