That is our flight home
If you’re invited to a boring party after a long day at work, sneaking off early is a bit cheeky, but understandable.
How many of us have pretended to head for the toilet but sidled towards the back door, hoping we won’t be spotted?
But if you’re the Prime Minister representing the UK at a historic event and the world’s press are in attendance, things are very different.
You can’t just disappear two-thirds of the way through because your poll ratings are tanking and your macho pride can’t cope with the prospect of defeat on July 4th.
Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave the D-Day celebrations early was a huge disaster. It reveals the enormity of his ego, it shows he has appalling manners, and it proves his closest advisors are woefully out of touch with what the public care about.
The young campaign planners in Number 10 probably thought that skipping a ceremony honouring those who saved us from a Nazi invasion 80 years ago was acceptable as the PM had done his duty by attending two events – in Portsmouth on Wednesday, and in France on Thursday morning.
It was a huge mistake. This wasn’t avoiding Dave from Dispatch's leaving do or Bev from Reception’s Big Birthday. This was honouring a group of veterans who will probably never meet again, a priceless moment in history.
Do young people care about the Second World War as much as my generation? Do twenty and thirty-something political advisors understand how the events on the Normandy beaches helped to save our democracy?
D-Day is engraved on our national DNA - we can’t measure out enough gratitude and respect to the brave soldiers who changed the course of modern history. It’s a moment we must never forget.
By bunking off the final international D-Day ceremony for a pre-recorded interview with ITV’s UK Editor Paul Brand (which won’t even be broadcast till next Wednesday), the Prime Minister revealed appalling manners and a total lack of judgement. It will cost him dearly.
Leaving President Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz, President Biden and President Zelensky behind on a Normandy beach - for a chat with Paul Brand?
Paul is a fine journalist, who regularly shines a light on the most deprived in our society, but he must have been astonished to find he was more important to the Prime Minister than a few moments with those who actually took part in D-Day.
Manners really matter, no matter whether you’re a refuse collector or a Prime Minister.
Sadly, most politicians (particularly male ones) seem to think the sun shines out of their proverbial backsides and that the universe revolves around them at all times – which is why Sunak chose a telly chat over a historic commemorative ceremony.
And his poor manners are one of the reason why last Tuesday’s Election debate was so ill-tempered and pointless.
If Sunak wants us to believe he had more pressing long standing engagements in the UK that called for his early return home, then share some details, I do understand security may not allow all the detail but it may go some way in defusing the situation.
I am of the mind that no details will be disclosed, as apart from the ITV recording nothing was more presssing.
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