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Starmer: Sunak will have to ‘answer for his choice’ over D-day absence
Labour leader Keir Starmer has told broadcasters “there was nowhere else I was going to be” other than at D-day commemoration events, and that the prime minister will have to “answer for his own actions.”
During a visit in Greater London on Friday, the Labour leader said:
Rishi Sunak will have to answer for his choice. For me there was only one choice, which was to be there, to pay my respects, to say thank you and to have the opportunity to speak to those veterans.
Asked whether the prime minister’s apology draws a line under the row, Starmer said: “He has to answer for his own actions, for me there was nowhere else I was going to be.”
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”. Foreign secretary David Cameron to take his place in the late afternoon ceremony at Omaha beach on Thursday.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said Sunak brought “shame” on the office of prime minister.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has written to defence secretary Grant Shapps with a specific set of questions including “Did the prime minister himself suggest that this was not the best use of his time? If not the prime minister, who did?” and also pointed out that “Given that the prime minister has been campaigning on the idea young people should complete a year’s national service, what does it say that he appears to have been unable to complete a single afternoon of it?”
Sunak’s party appear to being squeezed from the right by Reform UK in polling, and the recently installed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “Patriotic people who love their country should not vote for [Sunak].”
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer, however, has said he has found “faux outrage” from people he claimed were preventing veterans’ affairs from being improved “nauseating”.
Key events
David Duguid, the candidate apparently elbowed out from standing in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East so that Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross can stand there instead, has issued a robust statement saying it is simply incorrect for anybody to have claimed he was “unable to stand”.
He posted to social media to say:
I must however clear up a factual inaccuracy. It has been reported and repeated that I am “unable to stand”. This is simply incorrect. Having been adopted by local members, I was very much looking forward to campaigning – albeit in a different format from normal. It was not my decision not to stand.
It was the SCU Management Board that decided not to allow me to be the candidate although none of them had visited me. They apparently took this decision based on two visits from the party director and without receiving any professional medical prognosis.
Needless to say I am very saddened by the way this whole episode has unfolded and it would be wrong of me to pretend otherwise.
The statement continues that the process to replace him with Ross is “well underway” and finishes by thanking constituents for their support over the last seven years.
The deadline for election nominations is 4pm today.
Rishi Sunak is out campaigning in the south-west of England today. He is scheduled to make a couple of media appearances at visits during the day, and also to give a campaign speech at an event late in the afternoon. Some pictures have dropped on the newswires of him at a children’s centre in Swindon.
Here is the video clip of Keir Starmer speaking earlier about Rishi Sunak’s absence from some of yesterday’s D-day commemorations in France.
Starmer: election is about ‘character’ and ‘it was my duty’ to be at D-day events
Here are a few more words from Keir Starmer about his attendance at D-day commemoration events in France yesterday, in which he appeared to question Rishi Sunak’s character and understanding of duty as prime minister. He said there was “not a discussion” about whether he would attend.
Starmer said:
And this election is about character, who you have in your mind’s eye when you make decisions.
And for me there was only one place I was going to be, which is there to pay my respects to the veterans.
And to say thank you to them on behalf of all of us, including my young children who, as I said to many of the veterans, were pretty carefree yesterday going to school. But that was down to their sacrifice, and the sacrifice particularly of those colleagues of theirs who didn’t make it back.
I made a choice yesterday about what I would do as leader of the Labour party and as a candidate to be prime minister and I knew I should be there. This was not a discussion.
It was my duty to be there, it was my privilege to be there.
Privilege is a word that is probably overused in politics but I felt privileged to be able to be with veterans who had fought on D-day against the odds to liberate Europe and to allow me to grow up in peace and freedom and democracy.
ONS figures suggest cost of living crisis and NHS are the most pressing issues for voters
Phillip Inman
Phillip Inman is economics editor of the Observer and an economics writer for the Guardian
Somewhat contrary to claims earlier in the week by the former Reform UK leader Richard Tice that 2024 was going to be “the immigration election”, polling by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) between 22 May to 2 June shows that adults in England, Wales and Scotland are less concerned about immigration than they were last year.
The ONS said the most commonly reported issue was the cost of living (87%) and the NHS (85%), followed by the economy (68%), crime (60%), housing (57%), and climate change and the environment (56%).
In a blow to the Reform UK party, the subject was a concern for 52% of people polled, which compares with a 54% level in the polling conducted just over six months ago, between 15 and 22 of November last year.
The ONS said lower order issues facing Britain acccording to the poll were international conflict (48%) and education (46%).
More than half of those polled said their cost of living had increased over the last month. The ONS said people reported being hit by higher food shopping bills (91%), fuel (58%) or their gas and electricity bills (50%).
Swinney: ‘foolish’ D-day decision shows election ‘all over’ for Tories, but warns Labour will deliver ‘Tory spending cuts’
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney has urged Scotland to vote for “a future made in Scotland, for Scotland”, saying that the campaign is “all over” for the Conservatives, but cautioning that Labour in Westminster would deliver “Tory spending cuts” for his country.
Swinney told supporters in Glasgow:
It is becoming ever more clear that it’s over for the Conservative Party. And if it wasn’t all over before the prime minister’s foolish decision to turn his back on the D-day commemorations and return home to perpetuate the baseless claim he made on Tuesday in the television debate, it certainly is over now.
So in this election, people in Scotland have got to think long and hard about whether they want to vote for a Labour party that will deliver Tory spending cuts, or do they want to vote for the Scottish National party that will invest in the future of Scotland and put Scotland’s interests first?
That is the appeal I make to people in Scotland today. This is our chance. To vote SNP to put Scotland’s interests and Scotland’s national health service first. This is an opportunity for people to vote SNP for a future made in Scotland, for Scotland.
John Swinney has been campaigning today in Glasgow – more of that in a monent – but he has added his comment to the row over Rishi Sunak’s decision to leave D-day commemoration services in France yesterday before events had finished.
The SNP leader and first minister of Scotland said:
I took a very conscious decision that, for the 48 hours I was involved in the memorial and observation of the sacrifices that have been made, I would, essentially, not be engaged in this election campaign. I have deliberately exercised my responsibilities as first minister to focus entirely on the D-day commemorations.
Starmer: Sunak will have to ‘answer for his choice’ over D-day absence
Labour leader Keir Starmer has told broadcasters “there was nowhere else I was going to be” other than at D-day commemoration events, and that the prime minister will have to “answer for his own actions.”
During a visit in Greater London on Friday, the Labour leader said:
Rishi Sunak will have to answer for his choice. For me there was only one choice, which was to be there, to pay my respects, to say thank you and to have the opportunity to speak to those veterans.
Asked whether the prime minister’s apology draws a line under the row, Starmer said: “He has to answer for his own actions, for me there was nowhere else I was going to be.”
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”. Foreign secretary David Cameron to take his place in the late afternoon ceremony at Omaha beach on Thursday.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said Sunak brought “shame” on the office of prime minister.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has written to defence secretary Grant Shapps with a specific set of questions including “Did the prime minister himself suggest that this was not the best use of his time? If not the prime minister, who did?” and also pointed out that “Given that the prime minister has been campaigning on the idea young people should complete a year’s national service, what does it say that he appears to have been unable to complete a single afternoon of it?”
Sunak’s party appear to being squeezed from the right by Reform UK in polling, and the recently installed Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “Patriotic people who love their country should not vote for [Sunak].”
Veterans minister Johnny Mercer, however, has said he has found “faux outrage” from people he claimed were preventing veterans’ affairs from being improved “nauseating”.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has added to the pressure facing the Conservatives over Rishi Sunak’s decision to cut short his trip to France for D-day commemorations by writing to defence secretary Grant Shapps with a specific set of questions.
Healey writes “Yesterday, Britain and our allies came together to commemorate the events of D-day. As one, we paid our respects to the brave Allied forces who gave their lives for our freedom. The prime minister’s decision not to attend the events in Normandy yesterday – apparently in favour of recording a TV interview – raise worrying questions about both his judgement and his priorities.”
“As secretary of state for defence, I know you will share those concerns,” the letter continues, and then asks specifically:
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When was the decision made for the prime minister to skip yesterday’s D-day commemoration?
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Did the prime minister himself suggest that this was not the best use of his time? If not the prime minister, who did?
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Did he record the television interview with ITV while D-Day events were still going on in Normandy?
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Reports in the media attributed to Conservative Campaign Headquarters on Wednesday morning claimed the prime minister was “giving the next two days over to D-day out of respect”. Did they know this to be untrue at the time? If not, when was the decision made to cut short the prime minister’s attendance at the D-day ceremonies?
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The French government are reported to have said they were told a week ago that the prime minister would not attend the D-day 80th commemoration. Is this true?
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Do you believe that the prime minister apologising in a social media post is sufficient? Will you encourage the prime minister to make a further, fuller statement of apology?
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Given that the prime minister has been campaigning on the idea young people should complete a year’s national service, what does it say that he appears to have been unable to complete a single afternoon of it?
Healey concludes “The public deserve clear explanations from the prime minister and those around him about why this dreadful decision was made.”
Hannah Al-Othman
Hannah Al-Othman is a North of England correspondent for the Guardian
It is a family affair in Hyndburn in Lancashire, where the Tory incumbent Sara Britcliffe is being challenged by her own first cousin.
Matthew Britcliffe is standing for George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain on 4 July. He had joined the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned for them in the last general election, and cites the late radical Labour MP Tony Benn as his most inspirational political figure.
Sara Britcliffe was elected in 2019; then just 24-years-old, she became the youngest Conservative MP. Labour had previously held the seat since 1992.
Matthew Britcliffe has criticised his cousin for voting in favour of dumping raw sewage in rivers, and voting against a ceasefire in Gaza, and said “the last five years have been horrific, and we simply cannot afford another five years like that.”
“My desire to do the right thing is what has caused me to now stand to represent the constituency of my father’s family,” he said in a statement. “My family has been part of East Lancashire’s history through the age of industrialisation, and I well understand how most of us came to be here in the first place.”
“Days after the [2019] election, my father told me I had a cousin, who I’d never heard of, and that she had been elected to parliament as a Tory MP,” he continued. “It was disappointing news, and didn’t get any better. A vote for dumping more sewage in our rivers, and a vote against a ceasefire in Gaza: two votes of Sara’s which stood out to me.”
Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Sara Britcliffe has said that “Matthew is an estranged family member with whom I have no contact due to personal reasons.”
She said she does not believe that her cousin lives in the constituency, adding: “it is important to note that we do share the same last name and that I will be the second name down on the ballot paper.”
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