UK's Sunak Apologises For Skipping Main D-Day Event

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised on Friday for leaving the D-Day commemorations in France early to give a domestic television interview, the latest self-inflicted setback to his stuttering general election campaign.

Political opponents accused Sunak of "a total dereliction of duty" by skipping a major international ceremony with world leaders on Thursday, while he also attracted criticism from his own Conservative party colleagues.

Sunak attended a British-organised memorial before returning home and missed the main ceremony at Omaha Beach, attended by France's President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

"After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK," Sunak said in a post on the social media site X.

"On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer -- and I apologise."

One Normandy veteran told Sky News the move "lets the country down".

Sunak, whose Conservatives are set to lose the July 4 general election heavily according to polls, sent Foreign Secretary David Cameron to the event instead, where he was pictured alongside other world leaders.

Sunak's main opponent in the election, Labour leader Keir Starmer, did stay on and was photographed meeting Zelensky.

In a post on X, Starmer said he told the Ukrainian president that "there will be no change in Britain's support for Ukraine" if he becomes the next UK prime minister as expected.

Starmer told reporters that Sunak would "have to answer for his own actions", adding: "For me there was nowhere else I was going to be".

His party's ruling executive on Friday finalised its manifesto, with Starmer confirming that recognition of Palestinian statehood as part of any Middle East peace process would be included.

"Today's meeting has endorsed Labour's manifesto," a party spokesman said, as it prepares for a return to power for the first time in 14 years.

Voters appeared unimpressed by Sunak's antics.

A snap YouGov poll found 65 percent believed it was "unacceptable" to have left the D-Day events early -- including more than two-thirds of Conservative voters at the last election in 2019.

Sunak's own veterans affairs minister, former soldier Johnny Mercer, said he understood "the outrage" and conceded his boss had committed a "significant mistake".

In his social media post and subsequent interviews, the Tory leader argued against "politicising" the issue, while defending his record on veterans' affairs.

"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," he said.

Sunak, 44, had returned home to be quizzed by ITV News in an interview that is not due to air until Wednesday.

In a clip released late Thursday, he was forced to deny that he would lie to retain power.

Labour accuses him of lying by repeating a claim, disputed by independent experts, that Starmer would increase taxes by GBP2,000 ($2,600) per household over four years.

The D-Day ceremonies marked the 80th anniversary of the launch of Operation Overlord, when tens of thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.

The vast military operation paved the way for liberation of occupied France and the end of the war against Nazi Germany.

Commentators suggested that Sunak's decision to miss the main ceremony heralding the soldiers' bravery showed a lack of political nous.

"It's a very important moment for the country. But it's also a very important moment to show that you're being prime ministerial," Cameron's former adviser Craig Oliver told BBC radio.

Sunak, an internal Tory appointee as prime minister in October 2022, called the election in a rain-sodden speech from Downing Street on May 22.

Since then he has visited the site in Belfast where the Titanic was built, drawing comparisons between his leadership and captaining a sinking ship.

Sunak was also ridiculed for asking Welsh people if they were looking forward to the European Championships football tournament, when Wales have not qualified.