Rishi Sunak has been accused of making a massive error of judgment after he exited the D-Day commemorations early on Thursday, leaving Foreign Secretary David Cameron to deputise for him at the international leaders event. Speaking to Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride, Sky News’ Trevor Phillips asked whether the PM understood the weight of the event.
Stride said Sunak was deeply patriotic, arguing that his actions as Chancellor during Covid demonstrated how much he cared about the country. Stride said a mistake had been made, and the Prime Minister had ‘unequivocally apologised’.
Nigel Farage: Sunak is ‘utterly disconnected by class, by privilege’
Laura Kuenssberg questioned Reform leader Nigel Farage over comments he made after the D-Day events that Rishi Sunak didn’t understand ‘our history and our culture’. Farage said Sunak should have ‘known in his heart’ that it was right to be there, and claimed that the Prime Minister was disconnected from how ordinary people feel. Kuenssberg pointed out that Farage’s words appeared to be trying to ‘not very subtly…emphasise the Prime Minister’s immigrant heritage’. Farage said that 40 per cent of the country’s contribution to the two world wars came from the Commonwealth, and ‘clearly Mr. Sunak doesn’t understand that’.
Amber Rudd: Farage ‘has no idea how to deliver’
On Kuenssberg’s panel, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she agreed with Farage’s assertion that the election is ‘clearly going to be a Labour victory’, but argued that voting for the Conservatives was the best way to ensure a strong opposition. In response to Kuenssberg’s Farage interview, Rudd said it was ‘easy to make announcements’, but in reality it’s ‘all about the delivery’. She pointed out that the Brexit campaign had focussed on curtailing immigration, but immigration numbers had continued to rise eight years after the vote.
Shadow Justice Secretary: ‘we will make whatever decision is necessary…to get control of our prisons’
Shadow Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood was asked by Laura Kuenssberg to clarify how Labour would deal with overcrowding in prisons. Kuenssberg pointed out that the government had begun letting out prisoners early, and asked whether Labour would continue that policy. Mahmood refused to say, suggesting it was a ‘dereliction of duty’ that the government hadn’t released the figures about their early release scheme, and claiming they had been doing it ‘in secret’. Mahmood said it would be ‘irresponsible’ to rule anything in or out without ‘all of the information’.
Have the SNP given up on independence?
Finally, Kuenssberg asked SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn why he didn’t mention Scottish independence at Friday’s BBC debate. Flynn said that during a general election it was necessary to focus on ‘the biggest issues at Westminster’. He claimed that £18 billion of public section cuts are on their way, and that the Institute for Fiscal Studies have suggested Labour and the Tories are engaged in a ‘conspiracy of silence’ over incoming austerity measures.
Kuenssberg pressed Flynn, suggesting the SNP might be aware that independence was ‘on the back burner’ for many voters. Flynn said he was focussed on making sure the SNP win the election, and that it would be up to ‘Keir Starmer in all likelihood’ to decide whether to ‘adhere to the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland’.
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