UK prime minister says it was ‘a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise’

Rishi Sunak has apologised for leaving D-day anniversary events early to take part in a TV interview, admitting it was “a mistake not to stay in France longer”.

The prime minister had been heavily criticised for allowing the foreign secretary, David Cameron, to take his place in the late afternoon ceremony at Omaha beach on Thursday, while he left Normandy to do a prerecorded ITV segment to be broadcast next week.

On Friday, the prime minister said on X: “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.”

Conservative activists reacted with fury at the sight of Cameron standing alongside the French, German and US leaders, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden, with one saying it had left them questioning whether to “bother to continue campaigning”.

  • JohnSmith
    21·
    20 days ago

    I’m sure Sunak is a very intelligent person. You simply don’t get to be a PM by being an imbecile in the low IQ sense of the term. There is abundant evidence that he is a totally useless politician and an incompetent leader. His moral compass, I’m not even going to comment.

    • Echo Dot
      3·
      20 days ago

      I’m sure Sunak is a very intelligent person.

      I’m sure he was considered to be borderline convenient. I tend to feel that the conspiracies with these sorts of groups isn’t so much a plan for world domination, as it is for basic survival.

      He was the best of a worst bunch. There’s nothing more complicated in it than that.

    • HumanPenguinEnglish
      1·
      18 days ago

      You simply don’t get to be a PM by being an imbecile in the low IQ sense of the term

      He lost to someone who failed to outlast a lettuce. Sorry nope under the current tory party. The ability to talk crap is pretty much all they expect.

      We can only hope your statement applies when a person is required to win an election. But sunak was appointed purely to avoid yet another tory infight over leadership.