Why did Sunak leave the D-Day commemorations early?

Politics took a back seat on Thursday as the great and good of the British establishment marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer took a break from election campaigning to head to Normandy, where they joined the King and other world leaders in commemorating the occasion. But when the time came for the official photographs in the afternoon with Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, it was Lord Cameron, not Rishi Sunak, who did the honours for Britain. So why was the Foreign Secretary left to pose for pictures with the three heads of government, rather than the Prime Minister?

The answer could lie in an interview which Sunak chose to do with ITV shortly after returning from the commemorations on Thursday afternoon. The full interview was intended to be broadcast next Wednesday as part of a special episode of current affairs programme Tonight. But a clip from the interview, in which Sunak rebuts claims that he has lied about Labour’s tax plans, was published on Twitter on Thursday night. ITV’s Paul Brand subsequently confirmed on News at Ten that the Prime Minister returned from Normandy to do the interview. He said ITV was interviewing all the party leaders and had been working to secure a date with Sunak for some time. ‘Today was the slot they offered us,’ he said. ‘We don’t know why.’

Prior to ITV’s clip being aired, Sunak had already been criticised for choosing to miss part of the commemorations at Omaha beach. Nigel Farage told the Telegraph this afternoon that ‘The Prime Minister has ducked out of the international D-Day event to fly back to the UK to campaign. I am here in Normandy in a personal capacity because I think it matters. Does he?’ The subsequent revelation that Sunak, upon his return, then chose to spend part of his Thursday afternoon quibbling his opponents’ tax plans will only intensify criticism towards him. Labour have already been quick to fire off an angry press release, with Jon Ashworth calling the decision a ‘total dereliction of duty.’

Mr S can’t help but notice too that Sir Keir Starmer received a very warm reception from other international attendees – including Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy. The contrast between the impression made by these two party leaders is one that Labour will seek to exploit to the full…