LONDON — Eighty years after Sir Winston Churchill helped plan the Normandy landings, a British prime minister was criticized Friday for leaving the D-Day anniversary events early to return to the campaign trail in an election he seemed likely to lose.
Rishi Sunak, already beleaguered and unpopular, cut short his time with the veterans in France to return to London for a television interview.
Sunak later apologized for what he said was a “mistake”, but not before the decision to return home early came under fire from his allies as well as his political enemies.
Sunak accused of “dereliction of duty”
Sunak is fighting for his political life, with his Conservative Party trailing the opposition Labor Party by more than 20 points in some opinion polls ahead of the national election scheduled for July 4. If this gap in support is confirmed at the ballot box, this gap in support will lead to the ruling party being defeated so badly that it may come close to annihilation.
Sunak made the decision to call snap early voting himself, meaning D-Day celebrations are at the heart of the campaign.
The prime minister traveled to France to join King Charles III, Macron and others at a British-led memorial service on Thursday morning, to honor the 60,000 or so British soldiers who joined thousands more from Canada and the United States in the invasion that helped turn things around. Against Nazi Germany.
But when it came time for world leaders to line up for an official photo, President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, were left to pose for pictures with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, a former prime minister but nonetheless a stand-in. His boss left her.
Labor Party leader Keir Starmer was present, where he was photographed speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It later emerged that Sunak had given an interview after returning home. “Today was the opportunity presented to us,” ITV News presenter Paul Brand said. “We don’t know why.”
“On reflection, this was a mistake and I apologise,” Sunak said on Friday of his decision to return home.
Sunak said his itinerary for the D-Day events “was set out weeks in advance, ahead of the general election campaign”, while his office denied he had initially planned to skip the memorials altogether.
“I think it’s important, given the enormity of the sacrifice that has been made, that we don’t politicize this,” Sunak told broadcasters during the election campaign, after initially apologizing. Share on X. “The focus should really be on the veterans who have given so much,” he said.
However, in the eyes of many, this damage has already been done.
Left-leaning tabloid The Daily Mirror ran the phrase “PM DITCHES D-DAY” on its front page.
Starmer said Sunak “will have to take responsibility for his actions” but “for me, there was nowhere else for me to be”. Ed Davey, the long-time leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats hoping to win some Conservative seats, said Sunak had “abandoned” those who fought in Normandy with a “complete dereliction of duty”.
Nigel Farage, a populist Trump ally and leader of the UK’s Reform Party which seeks to pressure Conservatives on the right, said “patriotic people who love their country” should not vote for Sunak.
The criticism was no less harsh from some on Sunak’s side.
Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer, a former soldier, called it a “huge mistake.”
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