Rishi Sunak has accused his critics of politicising D-Day after he was forced to make a grovelling apology for leaving the commemorations early to take part in a TV interview.
A Normandy veteran and the former head of the Royal Navy were among those who criticised him for cutting short his visit to France, as the prime minister conceded he had blundered.
“It was a mistake and I apologise,” he said.
But he later claimed the events should not be politicised and called for the focus to be on veterans when challenged over his D-Day ceremony snub.
Normandy veteran Ken Hay, 98, accused Mr Sunak of letting “the country down”.
Lord West of Spithead, the ex-head of the navy, said it was “stupid” and an “own goal” of the Tory leader to miss the major international ceremony.
He said the prime minister’s “advisers should have told him” to stay, adding: “What a cock-up.”
Lord West, who is also a Labour peer, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “I find it very strange that he should do such an own goal.
“When you’ve got people like the president of the United States, the president of France, [Volodymyr] Zelensky and others all there, and the one person who is not there is the political head of the United Kingdom, I think it comes over very badly.”
And Reform UK leader Nigel Farage seized on the controversy to say Mr Sunak was “not a patriotic leader of the Conservative Party”.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows Mr Sunak’s decision is more likely to alienate older voters he hopes will back him at this election. Data from pollsters Redfield and Wilton shows only one in six voters aged 18-24 knows what happened on D-Day, compared to nearly two-thirds, 59 per cent, of those aged 55-64.
Speaking to broadcasters on a campaign visit to Wiltshire, the prime minister said he did participate in a number of events in Portsmouth and France “to honour those who risked their lives to defend our freedom and our values 80 years ago”.
He added that the itinerary was set weeks ago, before the start of the general election campaign. And again admitted he had made a mistake and apologised but he went on to suggest others were using the row for political gain.
He said: “I think it’s important though, given the enormity of the sacrifice made, that we don’t politicise this. The focus should rightly be on the veterans who gave so much.”
Mr Sunak’s miscalculation in coming home while other world leaders stayed in Normandy to honour the sacrifice and courage of thousands of Allied troops is bound to be seen as yet another major Conservative error in the election campaign.
It will add to the feeling among many Tory MPs that despite his undoubted skills in handling economic matters, the prime minister has a “tin ear” on other key aspects of leadership.
In an extraordinary turn of events, Downing Street was also forced to deny that Mr Sunak had initially planned not to attend the commemorations at all and that the French government had been informed a week ago.
No 10 said that was “not true” and that it had always been the plan he would go.
But even a senior Tory MP, veterans minister Johnny Mercer, said the decision to leave the anniversary events early was a “significant mistake”.
The prime minister has been accused of a “dereliction of duty” after he snubbed the event and gave a TV interview about the election.
It emerged on Thursday that the prime minister came home early to sit down with ITV to defend claims he had made that Sir Keir Starmer planned to hike taxes by £2,000 per person.
The tax claim, first made in a TV debate with the Labour leader, was also seen as a political own goal after the Treasury’s chief mandarin disowned the figure.
It meant he left commemoration events in France before a gathering of the world leaders on Omaha Beach with King Charles and veterans.
The Independent first revealed that he had also skipped the event attended by the King, presidents Zelensky, Biden and Macron, and other world leaders to return to the UK to campaign in the election with his party still losing ground in the polls.
In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Mr Sunak said: “The 80th anniversary of D-Day has been a profound moment to honour the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our values, our freedom and our democracy.
“This anniversary should be about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics. I care deeply about veterans and have been honoured to represent the UK at a number of events in Portsmouth and France over the past two days and to meet those who fought so bravely.
“After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.”
