Alistair Darling says he is confused about what his party's leader, Jeremy Corbyn, stands for. Labour is where it is now, though, partly because so many members and voters were increasingly baffled as to what the party stood for under its previous leadership - a leadership which included Mr Darling himself.

This perplexity reached its apex in the damaging muddle over the UK Government's welfare reform bill, which saw Harriet Harman insisting Labour MPs should simply abstain.

It was because Mr Corbyn seemed to have a coherent set of beliefs and clear position that he commanded such a huge mandate from his party in winning the leadership election.

Another leader with such a vote of confidence from his members might have enjoyed a lengthy honeymoon period. Given the hostility he faces in sections of the media, Mr Corbyn was never going to have much time to bask in his popularity.

However his first week in the job has been remarkable for the extent to which he has managed to squander any momentum generated by his win.

Though his victory was widely predicted for weeks, there seems to have been little planning done for his arrival in post. These past few days were a chance, surely to set out some of his policies. Some, such as re-nationalising the railways, command considerable public support. Others such as quantitative easing may be a harder sell, but a case could have been made, a picture presented of a dynamic new leader leading his party in a bold new direction.

Instead Mr Corbyn appears to have blundered from one avoidable bad headline to another. He turned a positive into a negative by arriving late for a guaranteed standing ovation at the TUC's annual congress. Predictable problems such as the criticism of his shadow chancellor's views of the IRA, and over his unwillingness to sing the national anthem, appeared to have been unanticipated.

A muddle - to put it kindly - over the party's policy on Europe seems likely to foreshadow other major internal policy rifts in future.

Expectations from opponents within and outwith his own party were not high. Mr Corbyn has largely lived down to them.

True, over the course of a lengthy leadership campaign, he has traded on a brand of anti-politics. He scored his biggest success of the week by undermining the Westminster routine at Prime Minister's Questions. While his tactic of crowdsourcing questions for the Prime Minister annoyed lovers of Westminster theatre, and lobby journalists, it played well with the electorate.

However there is a difference between rejecting traditional politics and spin and eschewing any semblance of competence. The appointment of veteran advisor Neale Coleman, widely respected for his work with Ken Livingstone when he was London Mayor appears to offer hope that Mr Corbyn's camp may get back on track. But in yesterday's addition of convicted fire-raiser Mike Watson to his House of Lords team, the Labour leader appears to have marched straight into another elephant trap.

Mr Corbyn will need to wise up, and fast. It is possible to be maverick yet organised and to dress down without appearing shambolic. And it is possible to generate positive stories without handing opponents opportunities on a plate.

It is not only possible. For Labour and its new leader, it is vital.