Jeremy Corbyn’s first week as Labour leader: a series of gaffes, u-turns and general chaos

Harold Wilson’s remark that ‘a week is a long time in politics’ has never been more apt than at the beginning of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The hopey-changey rhetoric that lead him to victory last Saturday has inevitably given way to a more traditional form of compromise politics. While Corbyn’s debut at the Dispatch Box was the high point of his first week as Labour leader, the rest of his time has been devoted to fighting fires — literally in one incident. Women in the shadow cabinet: Sky News’ Darren McCaffrey revealed how the first Corbyn shadow cabinet was put together last Sunday and how the Labour leader attempted to deal with a lack of women shadowing the Great Offices of State. Instead of making Angela Eagle shadow chancellor, Corbyn stuck with his long-time friend John McDonnell. But as criticism mounted of this decision mounted, an aide decided ‘we need to do a Mandelson. Let’s make Angela shadow first minister of state.