David Cameron Squirms When Pressed Over His Role In Sunak's Infamous D-Day Snub
David Cameron has repeatedly refused to say whether he warned Rishi Sunak not to leave the D-Day commemorations early.
“I am not going to get into my advice or my department’s advice to the prime minister,” the foreign secretary told Times Radio on Thursday.
Cameron repeated the dodge in subsequent interviews. He told LBC: “It’s not a question of what I would have done.”
And he told the BBC: “In items of my advice I am part of a team and I support my team leader. I give advice confidentially to our team leader about all sorts of things.”
Sunak’s decision to leave the ceremony in Normandy early last week triggered a huge backlash and continues to cast a shadow over his election campaign.
The prime minister has apologised several times and was even forced to deny he considered quitting.
“Did you say at any point, this is a mistake, it’s D-Day, you’ve got to be here?”
“I’m not going to get into my advice…I support my leader.”@David_Cameron says Rishi Sunak is doing the job of PM “well at a hard time”.
📻 https://t.co/EGGZmlojS8
🎙️ @StigAbellpic.twitter.com/QWIrZdWdpN— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) June 13, 2024
It was reported by The Sunday Times that Cameron was “apoplectic” at the decision to skip the end of the event.
But the foreign secretary did deny this. “I absolutely wasn’t at all,” he told Sky News.
Cameron insisted Sunak was still “fighting an energetic campaign” and he was “right behind him”.
The former prime minister added of Sunak: “I don’t feel sorry for him.”
Labour has held a comfortable poll lead for some time and is widely expected to easily win the election on July 4.
But Cameron said “anything is possible” and the Tories could still win. “I’m never giving up,” he said.
“I remember fighting the election in 2015 and people said I didn’t have a chance and we were behind in the polls and we kept going and we had a clear plan, we had a strong team, and we came through and won the election,” he said.
It came after Sunak was booed and heckled by voters during a live Sky News election programme last night.
