‘‘It’s fair to say all the King’s men are now wondering if they can put Humpty back together again.’’

If Christopher Luxon’s week were to be summed up in pictures, they wouldn’t be happy snaps. In a series of images – from Apia to an ice hockey game – he was the embodiment of misery. One made the front page of the Samoa Observer, where he appeared utterly glum and distracted next to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Even the sunniest of us would struggle to compete with Ardern’s smile – even if it stretches thinner by the day. And these are just brief snapshots, an unfortunate angle captured that likely changed with his expression in the next second.

But still. Luxon’s leadership has hit turbulence and every bump is etched on his face.

By any measure, the week started well for National. Christopher Bishop revealed new figures that showed the number of those living in cars quadrupled over five years – a blow right to the heart of Ardern’s crusade to alleviate child poverty.

It was a quick one-two from the party’s strongest performers: Nicola Willis sucked any triumph out of the delivery of Labour’s cost of living payment, as the first instalment of the $350 sweetener dropped into bank accounts. She slugged away at the flagship Budget 2022 policy, as it transpired the cash was going offshore, to the dead, and only to 1.3 million people, not the 2.1m claimed in a campaign email.

This was a masterclass in Opposition politics – poking holes in policy and underscoring overpromises and under-delivery. Heading into the weekend’s annual conference, MPs were rightly jubilant – when you are on the shadow benches, morale is half the battle.

And then Luxon came back from Samoa. On Wednesday morning, he sweated his way through an interview with the AM Show’s Ryan Bridge, growing twitchier by the question. You could hear high priest of spin Steven Joyce weeping into his Sultana Bran as Luxon careered off message, and then finally reversed into a hole – flip-flopping on a pledge to match health funding to inflation.