Sunak’s D-Day departure was extraordinarily disrespectful

Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave Thursday’s 80th anniversary commemoration of D-Day in Normandy was extraordinary, stupid and disrespectful. He accompanied the King to a British ceremony at Ver-sur-Mer in the morning, at which Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition, was also present. But Sunak returned to the UK before the afternoon’s international event at Omaha Beach. It transpired that he spent the rest of the day recording an election campaign interview with ITV.

Failing to attend a major commemoration of one of the most important events in recent history, during which 1,500 British service personnel were killed, is staggeringly disrespectful

Downing Street sources have since told the BBC that the itinerary for 6 June was finalised several weeks ago, and that it had never been part of the plan for the prime minister to attend the Omaha Beach ceremony. Last month, the French government told the BBC that ‘Rishi Sunak’s presence is not guaranteed at the international ceremony, as the British ceremony will be held beforehand.