British PM apologises for skipping main D-Day ceremony to return to election campaign trail

Beleaguered UK leader Rishi Sunak apologised on Friday for leaving the D-Day anniversary commemorations in France early to conduct a television interview about Britain's general election campaign.

Opposition politicians accused Sunak of "a total dereliction of duty" by skipping a major international ceremony with fellow world leaders in Normandy on Thursday.

Sunak attended a British government event 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."

Sunak, languishing in the polls and widely tipped to lose the election on July 4, sent his foreign minister 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, also attended 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. Labour's Jonathan Ashworth accused Sunak of prioritising "his own vanity TV appearances over our veterans."

Ed Davey, the leader of the smaller Liberal Democrats party, said Sunak had "brought shame" to his office and "let down our country".

Conservative leader Sunak said in his post that the 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," he wrote. "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."

Sunak, 44, was interviewed by ITV News in an interview that is not due to air until Wednesday. In a clip released late on Wednesday, he denied that he was willing to lie to stay in power.

Labour accused him of lying by repeating a disputed claim that Starmer would increase taxes by £2,000 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.

Agence France-Presse