Rishi Sunak made a “mistake” by skipping a major D-Day commemorative event, another Cabinet minister said, and the debacle continued to hold sway as the campaign entered its third weekend.
Mark Harper said he agreed “with what the Prime Minister himself said: it was a mistake for him to leave early”, but did not go as far as his Conservative colleague Penny Mordaunt in calling the decision “completely wrong”.
Sunak was forced to apologize for leaving France ahead of an international ceremony attended by world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, to mark the 80th anniversary of the allied landing.
The move sparked a fierce reaction from political rivals and some Conservatives already nervous about their party’s electoral prospects, with outrage mounting after it emerged that Sunak had returned to the UK to record a campaign television interview for the general elections.
Harper repeated the Prime Minister’s suggestion that he had always intended to leave before the international event in Omaha Beach, even before calling the election.
The Transport Secretary told the BBC on Saturday: “I don’t know what the details were of the preparation of the Prime Minister’s timetable, which, as he said, was done some time ago before the election campaign was called.
“But look, it was a mistake. People make mistakes. The Prime Minister has made a mistake. He apologized for it. And he apologized to those who would have been especially hurt by it.”
It came after Ms Mordaunt, a Navy reservist, told a seven-person BBC debate on Friday: “What happened was completely wrong and the Prime Minister rightly apologized for that, he apologized to the veterans but also with all of us, because he was representing all of us.”
After she said the issue should not become “a political football”, UK reform leader Nigel Farage responded: “Well, it already is. It already is because the veterans themselves are speaking out saying that he has let the country down.”
The Conservatives have tried to get ahead of the row with new policy offers, including a commitment to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers of homes up to £425,000.
They also set out their “Support Drivers Bill”, which would ban Wales-style blanket 20mph limits and reverse the expansion of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) from inner to outer London.
Meanwhile, the Labor Party has promised to “close the shutters” on small businesses with a series of policies to attract entrepreneurs, including a review of the business rates system to help high street stores compete with online giants.
The Liberal Democrats would invest £50m a year in maintaining three new national parks, according to their weekend policy launch.
