this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
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34
Rishi Sunak says sorry for leaving D-day events early to record TV interview (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 5 months ago by Emperor@feddit.uk to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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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”.

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[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

And now he's complaining about Labour 'politicising' this. He's a politican, everything he does is politicised!

EDIT:

The full quote is just incredible and is some evidence that Sunak might in fact be the stupidest man in the world:

I also don’t think it’s right to be political in the midst of D-day commemorations. The focus should rightly be on the veterans and their service and sacrifice for our country.

So why the fuck did you run off and record a political interview in which your refused to apologise for the lie you told about politics for political reasons?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

He's an absolute imbecile. It's not even going to go out for like a week, he could have picked any other day to record it on and it would have been fine.

Now in a week's time ITV are going to show it and it's just going to bring it all back up again.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah, everyone will run it as 'The interview Sunak gave instead of honouring D-Day'.

[–] JohnSmith@feddit.uk 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months 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.

[–] HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 1 points 5 months 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.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 15 points 5 months ago

Serious unforced error - what were they thinking? Especially as the parties had agreed to suspend campaigning.

with one saying it had left them questioning whether to “bother to continue campaigning”.

I'd hate to be the one to break it to them...

[–] UKFilmNerd@feddit.uk 12 points 5 months ago

Rishi may have the brains to run a company (maybe) but his public interaction of any kind is atrocious. I listened to the full five-minute apology, and it sounded utterly false. Every time he speaks, not just this apology, you can tell it has been scripted, especially when he's asked a question, and he replies with the identical repetition of something he's already said.

The amount of times he said the same sentence about the fact the itinerary was already set weeks ago. So you were always planning to leave early? I hope some evidence turns up to prove that he allegedly wasn't going to go to France at all. This is what the French government were told a few weeks ago, apparently.

Finally, don't make this political!? Too fucking late mate.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah you really shouldn't bother continuing to campaign because he is literally the worst possible prime minister you could have picked.

But he was picked and that's a conservative problem. That frankly the conservatives deserve.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 2 points 5 months ago

The party elected Truss. They showed themselves unable to pick a decent leader. So the party machinery stepped in and did a bit better. It shows the state of the party.

[–] frog 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Apparently his itinerary was set "weeks ago". So he arranged to be recording a TV interview before the election had even been announced..?

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Part to me would think that it was all part of some conspiracy where he knew the election was going to happen already. But that requires a level of competence that frankly he's not demonstrated.

I actually genuinely believe that was the date they chose for the interview and it was just going to be some interview and it's changed into a political appeal one. And no one in his team can add up dates in their head, so it never occurred to anyone that that was a stupid date to pick.

[–] frog 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm inclined to agree. There's no conspiracy, just incompetence. I think also it simply never occurred to Sunak what the optics would be. He only thought in terms of "this event is just me hanging around talking to people, I've got much more important stuff to do", and he just doesn't understand that talking to people and trying to be a human being is part of the job of prime minister.

[–] JohnSmith@feddit.uk 2 points 5 months ago

Wast majority of cases are perfectly explained by the fuck-up theory, and it’s hard for me to see how this is any different. That doesn’t make things any better, though. I would absolutely expect the PM and the team around the PM being much, much better. This is a devastating verdict on Sunak’s leadership, as if yet another one was needed.

[–] apis 7 points 5 months ago

Besides which, D-Day commemorations would have been planned much further back than that, including the attendance of the British PM. That would have been in the diary of No.10 long before Sunak himself took office, with just very fine details to tweak nearer the day.

[–] baggins 6 points 5 months ago

Rish! Do us all a favour and just jack in in now. At this point, you're just a waste of space.

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago

Hopefully this loses him the grey vote. Third place please. Doesn't even deserve to be in opposition.

[–] JohnSmith@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I thought the picture of Biden, Schroeder, Macron and … the chap from Chipping Norton spoke volumes.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

"Zo then, vich of us hasn't shagged ein svine?"

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago

schwein

LOL I don't know why I am correcting your German and only correcting one word 😅

[–] jobby@lemmy.today 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

He’s certainly got his priorities.

To be fair, he wouldn’t have lost any ancestors in D-Day.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Even rich people died on D-Day. Not as many as the poor lads thrown into the meat grinder but the officer class got hit too.

[–] jobby@lemmy.today 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I’m afraid I’m referring to his Indian heritage. Although, to be fair, I have not done the research to find out whether his grandparents / greats were in the UK at the time or indeed participated in WWII in Europe.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

He is of Punjabi descent and the Indian Army contributed in a major way during WW2 - it's often aid that we'd have lost without them. The bulk fought the Japanese (which include some huge brutal battles - the Stalingrad of the East) but they were active in the European, North African and Pacific theatres of war.

There were 300 Indian soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk, almost all Muslims from the Punjab. It became an issue when Christopher Nolan released his film about it and left them out, despite them being evacuated from the pier in the film.

Sepoy Kamal Ram of the 8th Punjab Regiment received the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the push on Monte Cassino. One of 31 issued to Indians in WW2, a number handed out for the Italian campaign (with the Ghurka Rifles and Mahratta Light Infantry getting a few each).

I couldn't find anything on his actual ancestors being involved (some seem to have been in East Africa at the time) but with such a large mobilisation of Indian troops in WW2, he will have had relatives involved in the conflict.

[–] jobby@lemmy.today 2 points 5 months ago

Great, thank you. Good to know. I’ll file that away in the old bonce.

I’ll withdraw my statement on the off chance that his family did in fact take part.

He’s still an entitled twat and utterly out of touch, but that’s another argument.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 5 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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.

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”.

It was part of a series of pre-recorded ITV interviews with political party leaders that will be broadcast throughout the election campaign – meaning the prime minister could have recorded it at any point in the next four days.

On Thursday evening, ITV decided to release a short taster clip from the longer interview, in which Sunak was challenged about his tax claims, hoping to attract coverage ahead of Friday night’s televised debate between party representatives.

A Conservative source played down the diplomatic impact of the prime minister’s absence from the event, as they said Sunak would see Macron, Biden, Scholz and other key leaders at the G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, which starts next Thursday.

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