Election latest: Minister defends 'deeply patriotic' Sunak over 'biggest political gaffe in memory' (2024)

The prime minister is stuck in a "spiral", Guardian columnist Owen Jones has told Sky News, with everyone now "looking out for the next gaffe".

He was commenting on a challenging few days for Rishi Sunak after he faced a barrage of criticism for leaving D-Day commemorations early, later taking part in a TV interview.

Earlier, Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips it was the "biggest gaffe I can remember in politics" (see post at 9.13am).

Jones now says the press can "scent blood" and are "looking for anything that can be construed as things blowing up in Rishi Sunak's face".

He was speaking alongside Lucy Fisher, Whitehall editor for the Financial Times, who said missing the "brilliant optics" opportunity to stand alongside world leaders at the D-Day event was a "failure of politics".

But she says what is "most concerning" to people within the Tory campaign, to fellow Cabinet ministers, backbenchers and voters is "what it says about Rishi Sunak's values - that it wasn't important to stay to the end".

"For Rishi Sunak not to understand that it is a privilege to be there but think of it as something to be ticked off, and onto the next task, I think is quite concerning and one reason everyone has been so shocked by it," she says.

Mr Sunak has apologised for leaving the commemorations early, describing it as a "mistake".

Sunak ally and Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Trevor Phillips earlier the prime minister was "deeply patriotic" and he has apologised "unequivocally" (see post at 8.38am).

Sky News has been tracking locations visited by party leaders in the first two weeks of the general election campaign to decipher what their choices tell us about the parties' election strategies.

Of the 650 seats, 54 have now been visited during the campaign by Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer or Ed Davey.

The South East seems to be garnering the most attention with 12 visits overall - highlighting the importance of the region for all of the English parties.

Read more from Sky News elections analyst Dr Hannah Bunting and data journalist Joely Santa Cruz here:

It's been a busy start to the day today as politicians do the Sunday morning interview rounds, including on our very own Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

Here is what you may have missed:

• Rishi Sunak is "deeply patriotic", an ally has told Trevor Phillips, as the fallout over him leaving D-Day commemorations early this week continues;
• Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Strideinsisted the prime minister will lead the Conservative Party into the election, despite the D-Day furore;
• Conservative commentatorTim Montgomerietold Trevor Philips it was the "biggest gaffe I can remember in politics";
• Labour say they won't won't raise income tax, national insurance or VAT for five years, and their manifesto will contain "no tax surprises";
• But the director Institute for Fiscal Studies has questioned tax promises from the Conservatives and Labour, saying they don't want to talk about the "scale of the challenges facing them";
• Labour are also promising to deliver thousands of new prison places to tackle overcrowding;
• The Conservatives say they will cut the cost of welfare through reforms to the benefits system;
• Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has told Sky News they are putting healthcare "right at the centre" of their campaign, saying their pledges are "fully funded";

Here are some other stories you might want to read:

You can also listen to our episode on the Daily on the fallout of the prime minister leaving this week's D-Day commemorations early.

And you can listen to our latest episode of Electoral Dysfunction.

Labour grandee Harriet Harman joins Beth Rigby and Ruth Davidson as the first Friday sub for Jess Phillips during the election period.

They break down the Labour tax row that has dogged both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer since the first leaders' debate earlier this week, give their take on the impact Nigel Farage standing in Clacton-on-Sea will have on the campaign, and lift the curtain on how the parties will be writing their manifestos.

Listen here:

👉Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts👈

Both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will take part in a special leaders' event programme next week, Sky News has confirmed.

The Battle For Number 10, a UK Election Leaders Special Event, will be aired on Wednesday 12 June.

The event will be live from Grimsby in front of an audience.

The new Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency is complex andlikely to be a key battleground in the election.

Sky News will put the main candidates vying to lead the country under scrutiny in front of a representative audience drawn from the local area and nationally.

The two men will look to pitch to voters in an in-depth interview before answering questions from the audience.

Rishi Sunak is "deeply patriotic", a Cabinet colleague has told Sky News, as the controversy over the prime minister's D-Day snub rumbles on in the run-up to the election.

Responding to ongoing criticism of the Tory leader,Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said his boss had recognised he had made a mistake over his decision to leave the 80th anniversary events in Normandy early to carry out a TV interview and would be "feeling this very deeply".

In the face of a backlash from rivals, veterans and some within his own party, Mr Sunak was forced to apologisefor skipping an international ceremony attended by world leaders including US President Joe Biden to mark the allied landings.

Among those to wade into the row was Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who told Sky News that the debacle proved Mr Sunak was "not a patriotic leader of the Conservative Party".

Mr Sunak is campaigning in Yorkshire without the usual media pack today after facing accusations of "dodging" reporters' questions yesterday amid the continuing D-Day furore.

Speaking to the Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillipsshow on Sky News, Mr Stride said: "I do know Rishi pretty well, in fact I consider him as something of a friend, and I know he is a deeply patriotic person who cares greatly about this country.

"I know he will be feeling this very deeply."

Read more here:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated his party's pledge not to raise personal taxes, saying his manifesto will contain no "tax surprises".

His party has said it won't raise income tax, national insurance or VAT for five years (see post at 9.11am).

"We will launch our manifesto very soon and that will have no tax surprises in it because all of our plans are fully funded and fully costed and none of them require tax rises over and above the ones that we've already announced," he said.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have vowed not to raise taxes should they win the general election.

That's despite warnings from an Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) report that tax rises would be necessary to maintain funding to public services from whichever party wins the general election.

"They can cut the scope of what the state provides, or accept further worsening of public services which already look under strain," IFS research economist Bee Boileau said.

"Or they can raise taxes, or borrow more, in order to top up spending and maintain real-terms levels of departmental funding.

"Neither the Conservative Party nor the Labour Party has been clear about which of these options they would take. Neither has shown any ambition to cut the scope of the state."

Director of the IFS, Paul Johnson, told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips earlier that neither party wants to talk about the "scale of the challenge facing them" (see post at 9.59am).

However, Sir Keir insisted "we are not returning to austerity".

"What we do need to do, just to take up the challenge that's been put to us is, we do need to grow the economy," he said.

"We do need to make sure that the economy and living standards across the whole country are growing and that's why step one, in government if we get to serve our country, will be to stabilise and grow our economy."

Former deputy leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson has said Michael Mosley was a "hero" to him, after a body was found in the search for the TV doctor who went missing on a Greek island.

"Through courageous, science-based journalism, Michael Mosley has helped thousands of people get well and healthy," Mr Watson said.

"I'm one of them. He was a hero to me."

Mosley is known for appearing on This Morning and The One Show.

His agent confirmed he was missing on Thursday, sparking a massive search operation.

The body was found close to a cave complex beside Agia Marina on Symi, around 10 metres from the sea, and did not appear to show any signs of injury, the mayor of Symi Lefteris Papakalodoukas told Sky News.

You can follow all the latest updates here:

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride has insisted the prime minister will lead the Conservative Party into the general election.

Speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips a short time ago, Mr Stride said there "should be no question of anything other than that".

There had been speculation he could quit in the run-up to polling day on 4 July as he faces ongoing criticism for leaving D-Day commemorations early this week.

Former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries, a fierce critic of Rishi Sunak, suggested last night there were "rumours around" that Mr Sunak was "about to fall on his sword".

Mr Stride, who is one of Mr Sunak's closest allies, also denied that "all is lost" for the party, despite trailing in the polls behind Labour.

He said "taxes are coming down" and "we can continue that journey because of our stewardship of the economy and the fact we have got a plan".

He told Trevor: "To your point about whether 'all is lost', we have four weeks, that's a long time in politics."

ByJason Farrell, home editor

Rishi Sunak dressed as a purple wizard and Sir Keir Starmer's feeble punches in a gym.

These are the images teenagers are sharing in school on TikTok- all being pushed out by party campaign teams to target the young.

For our Bench Across Britain series, we took our people's parliamentary bench to Cardinal Newman Catholic School in the Bedfordshire town of Luton, where we discovered young people are following this election closely online.

"I'm getting some from the Conservative Party and some from Labour," says 17-year-old Hope Campbell, a Year 12 pupil.

She and other students quickly pull up a photoshopped image of the prime minister dressed as a wizard with the caption "you've been cursed by the Auramancer (-999999 aura if you don't send this)", which refers to an on-trend joke among teenagers about "aura".

Hope explains: "So basically there's a whole joke about aura - you get positive points if you do something good, and then if you do something like embarrassing or bad you get negative points.

"So, this is kind of like something put on by the Labour Party to say that if you vote for the Conservative Party, you'll get like minus nearly a million points."

Hope and her friend Eve Kelly, 17, sayLabourseem to be winning the TikTok war, someone from Gen-Z must be producing their content.

But the Conservatives are pushing back. A TikTok video put out by them shows Sir Keir doing a bad job of punching a punchbag.

Read more here:

The prime minister has faced criticism for leaving the 80th anniversary D-Day commemorationsearly to record a TV interview that's due to go out next week.

Rishi Sunak has since apologised - saying that "on reflection" leaving early "was a mistake",but also that itshouldn'tbepoliticised.

Niall Paterson looks athow damaging thismisstepis for Mr Sunak with Clare Pearsall, former Conservative special adviser at the Home Office,and Joe Twyman, the co-founder of the polling company Deltapoll.

Plus, our chief political correspondent Jon Craig tells us just how big of a political blunder it was.

👉Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts👈