When Rishi Sunak’s team were mapping out this week, Wednesday and Thursday were viewed to be non-political days as the Prime Minister and most UK political leaders would be focusing on the D-Day commemorations. Yet somehow Sunak has found himself facing the biggest backlash of his campaign to date over his attendance at the anniversary. His decision to leave Normandy in the afternoon and therefore miss a ceremony on Omaha beach that world leaders – including Joe Biden – attended has been met with bafflement and anger by his own side.
As Isabel reports here, Sunak has this morning issued an apology for leaving early – ‘on reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise’. It doesn’t help matters that the urgent business back at home appears to be a pre-record interview for ITV. This morning on the Sun’s ‘Never Mind the Ballots’ show, Johnny Mercer – the Veterans Minister – waded in, saying:
Obviously it’s a mistake. The PM on these visits receives a lot of advice on what he should and shouldn’t be doing. I’ve spoken to the Prime Minister this morning and obviously it’s disappointing, but I do find the faux outrage from people who’ve done nothing but make my life difficult trying to improve veterans affairs over the years is pretty nauseating, to be frank.’
Mercer goes on to say that ‘people are going to try and turn this into a big political moment’ but adds that ‘it should be borne in the context of what we’ve actually done for veterans’. So, how ‘big’ a political moment will be? Tory MPs this morning are in disbelief that this has happened – most have been WhatsApping expletives but one says it ‘shows the operation is not political’. The polling company Savanta’s Political Research Director Chris Hopkins says:
An embattled Conservative leader, seen as out of touch with ordinary voters, and leaking votes to Reform UK, frankly couldn’t have imagined a worse news story than leaving a D Day commemoration early after having allegedly not wanted to go at all.
It means it risks becoming a turning point in the campaign, a campaign that has already been hard going for the Tories. Tonight’s seven-way debate will be important. Reform’s Nigel Farage will be on primetime BBC debating Penny Mordaunt for the Tories and Angela Rayner for Labour. Farage is in the perfect position to go on the attack at the Conservatives, while Labour politicians have already been out doing so. Mordaunt – a former Naval Reservist – will have a job on her hands trying to stop the row from escalating further.
Listen to more analysis from Katy Balls on the Coffee House Shots podcast:
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