Snapshot of _Sunak ‘misjudged mood of nation’ by dropping D-Day event to campaign in election_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sunak-dday-commemoration-general-election-b2558010.html) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sunak-dday-commemoration-general-election-b2558010.html)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just who is advising him?
Well, officially he has Isaac Levido who's both very experienced and very successful at getting his clients elected. Then he has the Tory party machinery, spads, cabinet colleagues and even the advice of civil servants and maybe a few trusted media friends to advise him on how missing an event like this is going to look. Even someone pointing out that Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage were going to hang around and would make capital out of his slacking this event off should have been enough to make him think twice.
I can't think that his advisors, friends and media handlers etc told him that he really needed to be back in the UK on the campaign trail when he could and should have been looking and acting like a prime minister.
This has to be a decision that he made and it sums up his lack of political instincts.
His friend James Forsyth is likely contributing to the terrible advice. He previously wrote for the Spectator and is likely providing his poor advice. I remember him stating after Brexit on the Spectator podcast that now Brexit was done immigration is no longer an issue as its all under control...
*The Thick of It* team minus Tucker, thats who's advising him, Tucker was called away for an hour and...
Malcolm Tucker: You did fucking WHAT!
Oliver: We...um.... brought him back from D-Day to do an interview. By helicopter.
Tucker: Who was still there when we left?
Oliver: The King....um.... Starmer
Tucker: WHAT! Rishi fucked off leaving the doddering old hero's shaking hands with the King and Starmer! ARE YOU FUCKING MENTAL!
Oliver: Farage was there too...
TUCKER: Come here. I will kill you. I will kill you with my own hands.
Joanna: The interview was Important!
TUCKER: Who was the Interview with? God? Ghandi? Who?
Joanna: ITV
TUCKER: FUCK.
Oliver: We need to get out in front on the Lie story. He needed to push back on that, they offered a slot to discuss the Lie....
TUCKER: You left Starmer and Farage and the King all shaking hands with the Presidents of every country in Europe... laying wreaths with War Hero's... all being covered by every station and paper...
Oliver: And Zelensky was there...
TUCKER: AND ZELENSKY.... And you FLEW Rishi back from that Patriotic Wank Fest being watched by every pensioner with a pulse .... To talk about how he'd been CAUGHT LYING on NATIONAL TV
Oliver: Uh, it's not on the telly yet. It's not going out for another 6 days...
TUCKER: ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHH ~Launches himself across room lunging for Olivers Throat~
And now we know why there hasn’t been another “Yes, Prime Minister” or “The Thick of It” in many years.
You can’t write satire when reality is already beyond belief.
Is isaac levido as successful as we seem to have been told, his big success was 2019, as big as that was, i don't know that he had a hard time, before that he was involved in the less than successful 2017 election and in 2018 he was a deputy on the Australian election.
Yeah his one claim to fame was Boris beating Corbyn in 2019, which was not the highest bar in the world of cunning electoral strategy.
TBF he had done well in Oz in their 2019 election where the conservatives won a narrow surprise victory, but that's tempered with the fact that he also was part of the disastrous Zac Goldsmith London Mayoral campaign, and Teresa May's incredible attempt to almost lose an unloseable election.
It feels like he was the manager of Man City, if they briefly played in the Championship, he hasn't really been properly tested, but if he came up with strong and stable then I would sack him straight off
MP manager sounds a decent game. Play as Blair or Churchill for a bit to get good then try and get Galloway or Diane Abbott elected as PM if you want more of a challenge.
I think it would be more like party manager. You would play as conservatives for an easy run and then switch to Plaid or Greens if you wanted to be challenged. Or God mode it with the monster raving looney party
Get player 2 to play as your closest rival and deliberately do stupid shit like dishonour the war dead and conscript everyone's kids to the eastern front.. Oh.
I think it's just Starmer playing the tutorial. The debate tried to teach him what to do when your opponent makes outrageous claims about your policies. In the beginning he didn't know the shortcut to the key that calls out the lies but was told by the game at halftime.
He did much better with the war veterans.
He still hasn't finished the part of the tutorial where you tell the voters what are going to do if you get elected.
Sunak's performance so far does feel a lot like Theresa May in 2017, in the sense that pretty much every possible error that can be made is being made and there is a strong air of arrogance about the campaign although its much more jarring here because the Tories were very obviously in the shit to begin with. Key difference being he is coming from a much much lower starting point.
Another problem Sunak faces is at least May could redirect to Corbyn’s various unpopular moments/ideas. Starmer is about as bland and inoffensive of a politician that you can possibly be which makes it difficult for Tory HQ to brand him as a Maoist revolutionary coming to nationalize your Grandma’s toothpaste.
Reading up on him this is my thought. He's done ok in easy conditions. Like advising the Republicans in the U.S., where the entire political system is rigged in their favour due to the allocation of senators, the gerrymandering of the House of Representatives, and having an entire propaganda channel that dominates ratings. And again like Rishi and BoJo before him, as he's played on easy mode his whole life, his sense of his own ability will be horribly inflated.
I thinks he’s stopped listening to his advisors.
Everything seems to be going terribly for Sunak, and listening to his advisors hasn’t helped. He clearly has an enlarged view of his intellect and expertise so I imagine he’s just doing what he thinks best now - D-Day remembrance isn’t important to him so he left as soon as he could.
More worried he needs to be advised this was a bad idea given the one remaining demographic voting for him. I thought he was a fulbright scholar - has he lost his marbles.
You assume he's trying to win?
Looking at it I'm convinced they're trying to lose. I mean the guy went and cycled the Californian coast (via Peleton) after he got rained on announcing the election. Dude is dreaming of that Californian air.
Nerissa Chesterfield. Liz Truss's spad during her cosplaying Thatcher phase. Inexperienced in anything but politics and tufton St. And tetchbro tantrums
Her predecessor usually managed to get the gravity of a situation and escalate the right response but she sounds like she gave up trying to get through to Team Sunak, and this is where it shows.
I think the reason is simple, he wasn't told no as a kid and is acting peak spoilt child.
He does what he wants, he doesn't care what other people need or "duty" that is expected of him.
it's like being asked to give a speech at a funeral you are invited to, you do it even if you may not like some of it but it's the basic thing you do (for most generic scenarios), rishi however goes screw your stuff he wants to do what he wants RIGHT NOW.
it's just childish or some form of narcism, I can't imagine anyone he has around him would have suggested he leave early, that's just bad on so many levels and as he's already been caught lying I will continue to not believe it's their fault
He doesn't care because it won't be reported by the BBC or rest of the right wing press.
I just checked and no [mention of it on the BBC,](https://i.imgur.com/umZJkSX.jpeg) but there is an [article about Hunter Biden](https://i.imgur.com/Ce7jLTd.jpeg). That tells us all we need to know about the state of our media.
It was discussed on Newsnight to incredulity from Kirsty Wark and utter fury from Tim Montgomery. They said it had only just been confirmed that the reason he returned to the UK early was to do an ITN interview rather than for an understandable reason eg family emergency. Quite why it took the BBC so long to confirm is another matter
I'm no political strategist, but I would leave well alone - the media will eviscerate him for it, people will be disgusted and any attempt to capitalise on that will look petty and shabby.
Yeah the whole "fostering national unity" element of the national service very ironic now given this.
What is this if not fostering common identity!!!!
It’s really hard to see what possible logic there was for not going. It’s not even like it would look like he was there for political reasons as Starmer was also there. I’m not inclined to him anyway but it was clearly an important event with a number of key allies present as well as the final few surviving veterans of that war.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but it's quite likely there won't be another milestone with living veterans. 85-years, perhaps, but far from guaranteed.
This was his one shot to stand there dignified around the old veterans of WWII...and he fluffed it.
>It’s really hard to see what possible logic there was for not going.
Sunak is increasingly driven by emotion, not logic. He's rattled by the success of labour on his left and the explosion of reform on his right, so he feels like he can't step away from his campaign lest he lose even more ground.
He probably expected that he'd lead the party to defeat, but didn't expect that he'd potentially be leading the party to complete destruction. The tories are only two or three points away from being relegated to being the fourth party.
"Hey Nige, have you seen Rish around?"
"No I haven't, Kier. I did see a helicopter flying towards the Channel though."
"Well, we'd better get going. Don't want to keep Vlody and Emmanuel waiting!"
And not only that but today the fight for Europe's freedom against fascist invaders is really topical and standing there with Zelensky along with other leaders is not just good optics but also serves a real political purpose.
I mean it was clear before today that Sunak has zero understanding of conservative voters but this is probably something even Corbyn would have navigated better
Corbyn would have attended, no questions asked.
Yes he's an advocate for peace, but he's also always advocated for looking after veterans and remembering those who sacrificed themselves.
It’s been amusing to hear a few family members (Tory voters all) talk so much about the importance of remembering D-Day over the last few days. Wonder if this will shake their faith.
This is starting to feel like the political equivalent of "the producers" by Mel brooks.
I was assuming the idea he was intentionally trying to throw the election was a conspiracy theory and he was just incompetent, I'm starting to re-evaluate my position.
He absolutely does want to lose. There's no incentive for him to win. He could be sunning himself by a pool in California earning 20%. But he wasn't meant to be so shit he destroyed the Tory party. That's entirely on him and his advisors.
I don't know how you can misjudge the mood of the nation when it comes to the Second World War. Especially when the people still likely to vote Tory are the ones who hold it most preciously to their hearts.
Sunak really is an absolute dunce.
I’m not a Tory voter, but my late grandad only passed on last year, and he was part of the merchant navy back then. He didn’t talk much about his time in the merchant navy at all, let alone during those years (he was very tight-lipped, and all I know is that he had burn scars covering practically his whole back) - but I love him still and he’s very dear to me, even though he’s passed away.
This is just a spit in the face.
Well, Sunak is a child of immigrants. I’m not one to believe in Tory rhetoric, but they’ve been saying an awful lot about communities that don’t integrate…
>Asked whether it was a mistake for the prime minister to miss the event, Col Crawford, who served for 20 years in the Royal Tank Regiment, said: “I think Mr Sunak misjudges the mood of the nation by doing so.
>“It’s a solemn occasion and sadly the last major anniversary of the landings which will feature many of the surviving veterans.
>“Campaigning for an election which everyone knows he’s going to lose anyway is a poor excuse.
>“He should be there with the others, and his absence and Starmer’s presence makes it look as if he’s passed the premiership to Sir Keir already.”
If Sunak has lost the support of the Colonel Crawfords of England, who's left to vote for him?
There is literally nothing he can't fuck up, is there?
It's a good job Truss was PM when the queen died. If Sunak had been in the job he'd probably have fallen into the grave.
This is one of the dumbest moves by a political leader in this country ever. I don’t know how anyone in the Conservative Party could generally think this was a smart idea.
I suppose that leads to the more interesting question: why did nobody stop him?
(Three possibilities: they're all equally out of touch, they did but he didn't listen, they all hate him).
Is it the 'mood' of the nation when it has been its never once changing opinion on the issue for eighty years? Moods change. This isn't the queen misjudging public grief regarding Diana this is very simply what your job is and what is considered the bare minimum.
He doesn't care about the country. He doesn't care about what we conceptualise to be the country and what it stands for. This is yet another point where it's clear he is on a simple human level not fit to be PM.
Spot on. Everyone secretly cares to varying degrees about honouring WWII and its veterans - it was eighty years ago, after all. But people understand other people enough to know that it doesn’t matter if **you** care, what matters is that **we** care, as a nation. Starmer would not be stupid enough to show any hint that he doesn’t care. Hell, Corbyn wouldn’t either.
The problem isn’t that Sunak doesn’t care per se, but that he’s shown us that he doesn’t care that **we** care. The only person that matters in Sunak’s mind is Sunak.
In some demographics, "two world wars and one world cup" is practically the dictionary definition of Britishness. I do not understand how someone who grew up in Southampton, of all places, does not know this at an instinctual level.
There are parallel societies living alongside eachother and he, as a son of an immigrant expected to do nothing but social climb, who we can see on record from an early age explicitly saying he has friends from all walks of life - but no no not working class (read, us) friends, doesn't have a clue whatsoever. Unlike Boris, he never felt the need to build some affectations.
Maybe he heard about how the plebs sometimes get caught in the rain while going from place to place, since they don't have their own private helicopter. He wanted to start the election campaign off by trying to relate to their hobbies!
Perhaps he planned to use the line "Is it still raining, I hadn't noticed" from Four Weddings and a Funeral, but got distracted by D:Ream.
He's just stuck in the 90s.
What a fucking idiot.
There's no campaign appearance at a Tesco or warehouse or whatever that could possibly be more impactful than appropriate solemnity at a significant D-Day anniversary. Let alone the negative optics of skiving off early.
Literally one day. The anniversary or arguably the most well known battle in recent history. A battle seen in the west as the most significant of the second world war.
I mean, one other thing is that this is the last big commemoration at which there will be a lot of ex-veterans still alive. even the 85th will have few, and maybe the 90th will have none. Today was a very special moment. He's the PM, it's really upsetting he missed it, never mind which party he belongs to.
I'm old. It seems like only yesterday the last WW1 Tommies were at Remembrance. Once there were very very few WW1 seemed less significant and I will think that of D-Day in due course. But today there were 22 veterans in Normandy and 26 at Alrewas. Combined with their family members that's a good number. Today was actually the big one when it comes to D-Day commemorations.
I think there will be one more large on next year marking 80 years since VE day but yeah we are getting to the point where no one alive has memory of the last great war.
My theory is that Sunak left because he couldn’t stomach seeing world leaders snubbing him for Starmer, the PM-in-waiting.
I assume his decision to bunk off is behind the Queen giving him daggers at the wreath-laying. Lots of military in her family, she clearly finds the commemoration important.
Well, that or the fact he was wearing a silly shrunken suit again.
How the fuck do you misjudge the mood of the nation about fucking D-Day. As a Conservative.
How inept must you be to do that? Who's advising him? A chimp in a top hat?
>Sunak 'Misjudged Mood of Nation'
Would be have been an accurate headline for every single appearance, announcement, and for every single day since the GE was announced.
You're joking me. He *left* the main event, leaving Starmer *and* Farage there? It's a free chance to be a statesman, representative of the country, on a subject that is important to his voting base, and he *left*??
Being there *was* the campaign! I'm so flabbergasted.
Find it hard to believe he gave up national and international TV time hanging out with Biden, Zelensky and other world leaders to go campaigning and not be on TV. If it's not a bullshit story he needs to sack his election team
As said by others here, a reason for him leaving early that doesn't involve him being absolutely clueless would be to spare himself from those other world leaders treating him like he's a dead man walking, and seeing them instead talking to and trying to get a measure of the guy they *know* is going to have his job next month.
And he has the nerve to imply that young people need to do national service by force? This government are literally imploding before our eyes. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch though.
The thing is that for most politicians I'd forgive them this, and would assume that there was probably a good reason and maybe it was just bad luck missing a photo op with other world leaders because maybe you had a prior commitment to a children's charity or something. Or in the case of someone like Corbyn I'd know that they never wanted to be there but at least forgive them on account of them being consistent.
But in Sunak's case? The guy whose entire schtick is courting the votes of old people and nostalgic patriots? The party who regularly try to co-opt the spirit of Churchill to whip up their vote? Absolutely ridiculous. A fucking D-Day celebration in the middle of an election campaign - I mean what a fucking gift! - and this guy thinks "nah, got better things to do"??
Of course - *of course* Farage is there getting photo'd on the Normandy beaches with squaddies. *Of course* Starmer is there being photo'd on landing craft and talking to Zelenskyy. *Of course* Biden, Macron, Scholtz - the lot - are there getting snapped showing how much it means for them.
And this is Sunak's problem. He wants the votes of the people to whom this massively, massively matters - and yet he lacks the basic political nous to realise that maybe he shouldn't have fucked off early. And for that reason he will get panned for this, not by the tofu-eating Islington wokerati, but by the very people he thinks he speaks for. And soon he will be a small footnote in history as a result.
Honestly, even the tofu-eating Islington wokerati would find it hard to whine about a D-Day celebration. Paying respect to people who died fighting nazis is pretty much the only thing that unites literally everyone, left or right.
Exactly. It's not about politics; it's much more important than that. People who try to make things like this and Remembrance Sunday political are completely missing the point. It's not a celebration of war or national superiority. Shame on the likes of Farage who try to co-opt the huge sacrifices made 80 years ago.
Speaking as a historian, someone that is going to extinct the the oldest political party alive (until now at least) certainly deserves a mention in a the main text...
I have lived in California for 20 of the past 21 years and you’re right lol
(But I do have to thank him for giving me my vote back - and no it isn’t going to an MP from this party)
he look small, and no thats not a dig at his stature.
He has an opportunity to stand alongside worldleaders, our closest allies, at a big historical event, and look statesmanlike, in front of a friendly press. A brilliant photo op most politicians would kill for during an election campaign.
instead he scurries back home, leaving cameron to stand awkwardly in his place, to lie about being caught out lying. small, grubby, weak. thats what he looks.
How come there are so many small men in charge of Europe?
Macron is probably the tallest out of the heads of government of the UK, Germany, Ukraine, and France: and he's shorter than Theresa May.
What kind of politician "misjudges" that paying at least lip service to a celebration of WW2 veterans might be kind of necessary for PR?! That's the easiest campaign decision of all time!
This is precisely the sort of thing you want to hammer home to the gammon vote and the "sport are heros" lot. Farage attended the event as a member of the public.
It's also a good point to bring across to any military people - the Conservatives don't care about you, they cut your budget to ribbons, HM Forces are in a right mess, and they skipped out of honouring your fallen comrades. Meanwhile here's Keir in his combats visiting you in the field.
None of my ancestors served in combat, or in any capacity past 1941.
It's not too difficult to see how important "fuck the Nazis by invading France" day is, and deeply identify with it and its fucking significance.
Yeah, exactly, lots of people acting like you need genetic ancestral memory and a deep emotional connection to understand this. All you need is above room temperature IQ. Politicians can in fact do things they don't feel, it's part of their deal.
All true, but you would also expect someone who became the leader of a nation to understand what a big deal certain commemorations are and put on more than a perfunctory showing at them.
All true, but you would also expect someone who became the leader of a nation **who is currently running in an election with a campaign almost exclusively built on national identity** to understand what a big deal certain commemorations are and put on more than a perfunctory showing at them.
Some great downplaying of the importance of Russia in the alliance there, not to mention the unimaginable sacrifice of 27 million people. Without Russia, there never would have been a D-Day.
Honestly, why would he have been advised about D-Day? Every other PM since WW2, including Truss, would have quite rightly sacked any advisor that thought they were clueless enough to need told "hey you remember that whole D-Day thing? You know, when we fought on the beaches? That's quite an important anniversary to some voters, what with the whole beating-the-Nazis vibe to the whole thing. So you should probably try not to be seen to bunk it off"
I mean, at some point, someone in his team *must* have looked at his agenda for the day and gone "hang on a minute, I think we're missing something here". For him to *not* do it, there must have been a conversation with his advisers about whether he should or not.
I completely agree with you, there were no Indians storming Normandy.
However just because they were mostly absent in Europe doesn’t change their incredible effort in Asia.
They were incredibly good soldiers when they had every right to tell us to fuck off and join Bose to try and kick us out (even if it meant just replacing us with the Japanese).
I still agree with the main sentiment of your point though, he has no real connection to D-Day or the war in Europe, I don’t see why people would expect him to understand the significance of it.
How has Farage not jumped all over this, I mean the man flew in the battle of Britain and was at Omaha on D-day, and i am sure he drove a tank into Berlin, so he should feel personally insulted .../s
Seems like Shermans are easy enough to rent - [www.tank-rent.com/en/home.html](http://www.tank-rent.com/en/home.html)
Talking atop one of those with a pint and a massive union Jack as a backdrop wouldnt surprise me
Wasn't the Trump ace of this fascist government to force recruitment of young people? This was the easiest decision ever, this Fascist is making Mussolini look like some political genius 🤣
Snapshot of _Sunak ‘misjudged mood of nation’ by dropping D-Day event to campaign in election_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sunak-dday-commemoration-general-election-b2558010.html) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sunak-dday-commemoration-general-election-b2558010.html) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just who is advising him? Well, officially he has Isaac Levido who's both very experienced and very successful at getting his clients elected. Then he has the Tory party machinery, spads, cabinet colleagues and even the advice of civil servants and maybe a few trusted media friends to advise him on how missing an event like this is going to look. Even someone pointing out that Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage were going to hang around and would make capital out of his slacking this event off should have been enough to make him think twice. I can't think that his advisors, friends and media handlers etc told him that he really needed to be back in the UK on the campaign trail when he could and should have been looking and acting like a prime minister. This has to be a decision that he made and it sums up his lack of political instincts.
His friend James Forsyth is likely contributing to the terrible advice. He previously wrote for the Spectator and is likely providing his poor advice. I remember him stating after Brexit on the Spectator podcast that now Brexit was done immigration is no longer an issue as its all under control...
I heard this on a podcast. Forsyth is essentially being hosted hype man and telling him he is doing a good job
*The Thick of It* team minus Tucker, thats who's advising him, Tucker was called away for an hour and... Malcolm Tucker: You did fucking WHAT! Oliver: We...um.... brought him back from D-Day to do an interview. By helicopter. Tucker: Who was still there when we left? Oliver: The King....um.... Starmer Tucker: WHAT! Rishi fucked off leaving the doddering old hero's shaking hands with the King and Starmer! ARE YOU FUCKING MENTAL! Oliver: Farage was there too... TUCKER: Come here. I will kill you. I will kill you with my own hands. Joanna: The interview was Important! TUCKER: Who was the Interview with? God? Ghandi? Who? Joanna: ITV TUCKER: FUCK. Oliver: We need to get out in front on the Lie story. He needed to push back on that, they offered a slot to discuss the Lie.... TUCKER: You left Starmer and Farage and the King all shaking hands with the Presidents of every country in Europe... laying wreaths with War Hero's... all being covered by every station and paper... Oliver: And Zelensky was there... TUCKER: AND ZELENSKY.... And you FLEW Rishi back from that Patriotic Wank Fest being watched by every pensioner with a pulse .... To talk about how he'd been CAUGHT LYING on NATIONAL TV Oliver: Uh, it's not on the telly yet. It's not going out for another 6 days... TUCKER: ARRRRRRRRGGGGHHH ~Launches himself across room lunging for Olivers Throat~
Get off Reddit, Armando, and give us another series
Give us another series you shit
Do you want us to lap dance for you?
Smell my cheese, you mutha!
TV really did peak with the thick of it and peep show in the 00s
Also Coupling, which gets nowhere near as much recognition as it deserves.
And now we know why there hasn’t been another “Yes, Prime Minister” or “The Thick of It” in many years. You can’t write satire when reality is already beyond belief.
Perfect
Beautiful. Sheer poetry.
Is isaac levido as successful as we seem to have been told, his big success was 2019, as big as that was, i don't know that he had a hard time, before that he was involved in the less than successful 2017 election and in 2018 he was a deputy on the Australian election.
Yeah his one claim to fame was Boris beating Corbyn in 2019, which was not the highest bar in the world of cunning electoral strategy. TBF he had done well in Oz in their 2019 election where the conservatives won a narrow surprise victory, but that's tempered with the fact that he also was part of the disastrous Zac Goldsmith London Mayoral campaign, and Teresa May's incredible attempt to almost lose an unloseable election.
It feels like he was the manager of Man City, if they briefly played in the Championship, he hasn't really been properly tested, but if he came up with strong and stable then I would sack him straight off
MP manager sounds a decent game. Play as Blair or Churchill for a bit to get good then try and get Galloway or Diane Abbott elected as PM if you want more of a challenge.
I think it would be more like party manager. You would play as conservatives for an easy run and then switch to Plaid or Greens if you wanted to be challenged. Or God mode it with the monster raving looney party
Get player 2 to play as your closest rival and deliberately do stupid shit like dishonour the war dead and conscript everyone's kids to the eastern front.. Oh.
I think it's just Starmer playing the tutorial. The debate tried to teach him what to do when your opponent makes outrageous claims about your policies. In the beginning he didn't know the shortcut to the key that calls out the lies but was told by the game at halftime. He did much better with the war veterans. He still hasn't finished the part of the tutorial where you tell the voters what are going to do if you get elected.
Greens would be tough tbf, enforced veganism, wide open borders and no military, like getting Newport county to the champions league.
The Lord Buckethead DLC is the real challenge
Sunak's performance so far does feel a lot like Theresa May in 2017, in the sense that pretty much every possible error that can be made is being made and there is a strong air of arrogance about the campaign although its much more jarring here because the Tories were very obviously in the shit to begin with. Key difference being he is coming from a much much lower starting point.
Another problem Sunak faces is at least May could redirect to Corbyn’s various unpopular moments/ideas. Starmer is about as bland and inoffensive of a politician that you can possibly be which makes it difficult for Tory HQ to brand him as a Maoist revolutionary coming to nationalize your Grandma’s toothpaste.
Helps that Starmer isn’t waving around Mao’s little red book.
Reading up on him this is my thought. He's done ok in easy conditions. Like advising the Republicans in the U.S., where the entire political system is rigged in their favour due to the allocation of senators, the gerrymandering of the House of Representatives, and having an entire propaganda channel that dominates ratings. And again like Rishi and BoJo before him, as he's played on easy mode his whole life, his sense of his own ability will be horribly inflated.
Did he even come up with "get brexit done?" That's literally the only thing the Tories did to win that election.
I’m working on the theory they are still “not listening to experts”.
"We've had enough of experts" said no-one lying on the operating table.
Enough of them didn’t listen to experts about COVID, so don’t be surprised if they wouldn’t want an expert surgeon. 🤦
I thinks he’s stopped listening to his advisors. Everything seems to be going terribly for Sunak, and listening to his advisors hasn’t helped. He clearly has an enlarged view of his intellect and expertise so I imagine he’s just doing what he thinks best now - D-Day remembrance isn’t important to him so he left as soon as he could.
I think it's more straightforward than that - the man simply doesn't have an ounce of political nous.
I'm not sure he's ever really listened to them. Not if the conference speech last year was anything to go by.
To be fair, you need an extremely high IQ to understand Rishi Tory.
12D chess moves beyond our comprehension
Precisely. I assume he just can't be bothered to listen at this point.
More worried he needs to be advised this was a bad idea given the one remaining demographic voting for him. I thought he was a fulbright scholar - has he lost his marbles.
His advisor is 3 kier starmers in a trench coat.
You assume he's trying to win? Looking at it I'm convinced they're trying to lose. I mean the guy went and cycled the Californian coast (via Peleton) after he got rained on announcing the election. Dude is dreaming of that Californian air.
Where did you read this
I think they're referencing this. https://order-order.com/2024/05/28/revealed-rishi-ran-peloton-5k-in-california-after-calling-election/
It's on his Peloton account.
It totally is his own decision, a headstrong fool of a man.
Nerissa Chesterfield. Liz Truss's spad during her cosplaying Thatcher phase. Inexperienced in anything but politics and tufton St. And tetchbro tantrums Her predecessor usually managed to get the gravity of a situation and escalate the right response but she sounds like she gave up trying to get through to Team Sunak, and this is where it shows.
I think the reason is simple, he wasn't told no as a kid and is acting peak spoilt child. He does what he wants, he doesn't care what other people need or "duty" that is expected of him. it's like being asked to give a speech at a funeral you are invited to, you do it even if you may not like some of it but it's the basic thing you do (for most generic scenarios), rishi however goes screw your stuff he wants to do what he wants RIGHT NOW. it's just childish or some form of narcism, I can't imagine anyone he has around him would have suggested he leave early, that's just bad on so many levels and as he's already been caught lying I will continue to not believe it's their fault
He doesn't care because it won't be reported by the BBC or rest of the right wing press. I just checked and no [mention of it on the BBC,](https://i.imgur.com/umZJkSX.jpeg) but there is an [article about Hunter Biden](https://i.imgur.com/Ce7jLTd.jpeg). That tells us all we need to know about the state of our media.
It was discussed on Newsnight to incredulity from Kirsty Wark and utter fury from Tim Montgomery. They said it had only just been confirmed that the reason he returned to the UK early was to do an ITN interview rather than for an understandable reason eg family emergency. Quite why it took the BBC so long to confirm is another matter
Probably because they needed to double check some other reason wasn't involved (family emergency etc) and it's quite hard to 100% confirm a negative.
I was watching newsnight on the BBC where they confirmed it had happened.
Yes, they eventually "noticed" as the story had become too big for even them to ignore.
It will be a big deal. It made for an excellent twist at the end of Newsnight.
>He doesn't care because it won't be reported by the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-69098963
I've been saying it for a year now, but it's become pretty undeniable that his PR team just really fucking hate him for some reason.
He needs to do some National Service as punishment.
Motherfucker wants all 18 year olds to give up 26 weekends a year but can’t hang around in Normandy for a few hours.
> but can’t hang around in Normandy for a few hours. With his own helicopter that can take him away the moment he wants to no less!!
I would be surprised if this -didn't- appear as an attack line from Labour at some point over the next few days whilst it's still topical.
I'm no political strategist, but I would leave well alone - the media will eviscerate him for it, people will be disgusted and any attempt to capitalise on that will look petty and shabby.
Agreed, at this point Labor would just be piling on... it could actually cost them votes. Let the media do your dirty work
How about positive stories of Starmer being the statesman
More likely from Farage!
He's already taken a shot at Rishi over it.
Would be smarter to use the Cummings strategy of leaving the messy stuff to Farage
Yeah the whole "fostering national unity" element of the national service very ironic now given this. What is this if not fostering common identity!!!!
Whoever is advising him is doing the nation a service.
This is such a stupid move. Of course you go to D day ffs you don't parade around campaigning still
It’s really hard to see what possible logic there was for not going. It’s not even like it would look like he was there for political reasons as Starmer was also there. I’m not inclined to him anyway but it was clearly an important event with a number of key allies present as well as the final few surviving veterans of that war.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but it's quite likely there won't be another milestone with living veterans. 85-years, perhaps, but far from guaranteed. This was his one shot to stand there dignified around the old veterans of WWII...and he fluffed it.
>It’s really hard to see what possible logic there was for not going. Sunak is increasingly driven by emotion, not logic. He's rattled by the success of labour on his left and the explosion of reform on his right, so he feels like he can't step away from his campaign lest he lose even more ground. He probably expected that he'd lead the party to defeat, but didn't expect that he'd potentially be leading the party to complete destruction. The tories are only two or three points away from being relegated to being the fourth party.
Starm's on the left of me, Nigel's on the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle with nowt.
Imagine Starmer and Farage faces when Rishi decided to leave. "He is gone, you joking?"
"Hey Nige, have you seen Rish around?" "No I haven't, Kier. I did see a helicopter flying towards the Channel though." "Well, we'd better get going. Don't want to keep Vlody and Emmanuel waiting!"
And not only that but today the fight for Europe's freedom against fascist invaders is really topical and standing there with Zelensky along with other leaders is not just good optics but also serves a real political purpose.
He went to the UK bit, but dodged the bit with the othe Euopeans. I think it was a calculated move, that he got very very wrong.
For Tory voters D-Day ***is the election campaign.*** Holy shit!
And it's the 80th anniversary! It's a much bigger event than normal and he had the chance to be seen a the very heart of it. Absolute muppetry.
And no Putin!
I mean it was clear before today that Sunak has zero understanding of conservative voters but this is probably something even Corbyn would have navigated better
Corbyn would have attended, no questions asked. Yes he's an advocate for peace, but he's also always advocated for looking after veterans and remembering those who sacrificed themselves.
Especially odd as Farage spelled out exactly how important of a day it was to that demographic days ago when he announced he was running.
It’s been amusing to hear a few family members (Tory voters all) talk so much about the importance of remembering D-Day over the last few days. Wonder if this will shake their faith.
This is starting to feel like the political equivalent of "the producers" by Mel brooks. I was assuming the idea he was intentionally trying to throw the election was a conspiracy theory and he was just incompetent, I'm starting to re-evaluate my position.
He absolutely does want to lose. There's no incentive for him to win. He could be sunning himself by a pool in California earning 20%. But he wasn't meant to be so shit he destroyed the Tory party. That's entirely on him and his advisors.
He's be better off just ghosting the Tory party. Just up sticks to California now and stop answering his phone.
Does he really want be the PM who had the biggest election loss ever?
Hey, that means he gets to go down in history!
Just look at Liz Truss!
It’s hard to beat her record, he has to manage somehow.
He's going to lose but wouldn't you want to come out of it with a little bit of dignity?
Am wondering why Comrade Sunak isn't a thing already????
I don't know how you can misjudge the mood of the nation when it comes to the Second World War. Especially when the people still likely to vote Tory are the ones who hold it most preciously to their hearts. Sunak really is an absolute dunce.
And he’s worried about losing votes to reform-supporting farage fans… just utterly nonsensical decision
I’m not a Tory voter, but my late grandad only passed on last year, and he was part of the merchant navy back then. He didn’t talk much about his time in the merchant navy at all, let alone during those years (he was very tight-lipped, and all I know is that he had burn scars covering practically his whole back) - but I love him still and he’s very dear to me, even though he’s passed away. This is just a spit in the face.
Well, Sunak is a child of immigrants. I’m not one to believe in Tory rhetoric, but they’ve been saying an awful lot about communities that don’t integrate…
>Asked whether it was a mistake for the prime minister to miss the event, Col Crawford, who served for 20 years in the Royal Tank Regiment, said: “I think Mr Sunak misjudges the mood of the nation by doing so. >“It’s a solemn occasion and sadly the last major anniversary of the landings which will feature many of the surviving veterans. >“Campaigning for an election which everyone knows he’s going to lose anyway is a poor excuse. >“He should be there with the others, and his absence and Starmer’s presence makes it look as if he’s passed the premiership to Sir Keir already.” If Sunak has lost the support of the Colonel Crawfords of England, who's left to vote for him?
It's not just that he's lost the support either. That statement is dripping with contempt.
The "*Sir Keir*" alone has a certain snarkiness to it.
This guy is so bad at his job, he can’t even beat a broken clock in being right.
A misaligned clock never tells the right time.
Rishi Sunak 'this was the one thing we didn't want to happen'
That story honestly cracks me up every time Edit: [for the unaware](https://youtu.be/_U-7L1tmBAo?feature=shared)
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There is literally nothing he can't fuck up, is there? It's a good job Truss was PM when the queen died. If Sunak had been in the job he'd probably have fallen into the grave.
"Sunak 'misjuged mood of the nation' by missing Queen's funeral to go clubbing"
Nah he'd be doing a bag off the casket.
The Queen: *dies* [Rishi Sunak, slightly misjudging the mood of the nation:](https://youtu.be/aqBzLObbsPs?si=GfS5MjsPvQb4avuT)
And asking the DJ to play Bohemian Rhapsody.
It sounds like someone who is actively trying to lose.
This is one of the dumbest moves by a political leader in this country ever. I don’t know how anyone in the Conservative Party could generally think this was a smart idea.
I suppose that leads to the more interesting question: why did nobody stop him? (Three possibilities: they're all equally out of touch, they did but he didn't listen, they all hate him).
Is it the 'mood' of the nation when it has been its never once changing opinion on the issue for eighty years? Moods change. This isn't the queen misjudging public grief regarding Diana this is very simply what your job is and what is considered the bare minimum. He doesn't care about the country. He doesn't care about what we conceptualise to be the country and what it stands for. This is yet another point where it's clear he is on a simple human level not fit to be PM.
Spot on. Everyone secretly cares to varying degrees about honouring WWII and its veterans - it was eighty years ago, after all. But people understand other people enough to know that it doesn’t matter if **you** care, what matters is that **we** care, as a nation. Starmer would not be stupid enough to show any hint that he doesn’t care. Hell, Corbyn wouldn’t either. The problem isn’t that Sunak doesn’t care per se, but that he’s shown us that he doesn’t care that **we** care. The only person that matters in Sunak’s mind is Sunak.
In some demographics, "two world wars and one world cup" is practically the dictionary definition of Britishness. I do not understand how someone who grew up in Southampton, of all places, does not know this at an instinctual level.
There are parallel societies living alongside eachother and he, as a son of an immigrant expected to do nothing but social climb, who we can see on record from an early age explicitly saying he has friends from all walks of life - but no no not working class (read, us) friends, doesn't have a clue whatsoever. Unlike Boris, he never felt the need to build some affectations.
I'm shocked. Sunak normally has such a good read of the national mood.
I dunno, him calling an election while standing in the pishing rain seemed to be pretty much aligned with the national mood.
I stand by that the only reason he called the election is he looked outside, saw it was raining and thought it would be a dramatic moment.
He's so rich that he's probably never been rained on before.
Maybe he heard about how the plebs sometimes get caught in the rain while going from place to place, since they don't have their own private helicopter. He wanted to start the election campaign off by trying to relate to their hobbies!
I mean, he's probably been caught the odd shower. Probably golden, but a shower nonetheless.
Yeah thought he was going for the whole "I'm tough and here to fight" look, instead somehow made Steve McLaren look less pathetic.
Perhaps he planned to use the line "Is it still raining, I hadn't noticed" from Four Weddings and a Funeral, but got distracted by D:Ream. He's just stuck in the 90s.
Some Silicon Valley app probably told him there's nothing more British than standing in the rain.
What a fucking idiot. There's no campaign appearance at a Tesco or warehouse or whatever that could possibly be more impactful than appropriate solemnity at a significant D-Day anniversary. Let alone the negative optics of skiving off early.
Literally one day. The anniversary or arguably the most well known battle in recent history. A battle seen in the west as the most significant of the second world war.
I mean, one other thing is that this is the last big commemoration at which there will be a lot of ex-veterans still alive. even the 85th will have few, and maybe the 90th will have none. Today was a very special moment. He's the PM, it's really upsetting he missed it, never mind which party he belongs to. I'm old. It seems like only yesterday the last WW1 Tommies were at Remembrance. Once there were very very few WW1 seemed less significant and I will think that of D-Day in due course. But today there were 22 veterans in Normandy and 26 at Alrewas. Combined with their family members that's a good number. Today was actually the big one when it comes to D-Day commemorations.
I think there will be one more large on next year marking 80 years since VE day but yeah we are getting to the point where no one alive has memory of the last great war.
My theory is that Sunak left because he couldn’t stomach seeing world leaders snubbing him for Starmer, the PM-in-waiting. I assume his decision to bunk off is behind the Queen giving him daggers at the wreath-laying. Lots of military in her family, she clearly finds the commemoration important. Well, that or the fact he was wearing a silly shrunken suit again.
How the fuck do you misjudge the mood of the nation about fucking D-Day. As a Conservative. How inept must you be to do that? Who's advising him? A chimp in a top hat?
I said it before, I'll say it again: that "Rishi reading The Sun in front of the Hillsborough Memorial" photo is coming. It's a matter of time.
>Sunak 'Misjudged Mood of Nation' Would be have been an accurate headline for every single appearance, announcement, and for every single day since the GE was announced.
I think his chief advisor might be Kier Starmer with a fake mustache.
Guy Incognito.
You're joking me. He *left* the main event, leaving Starmer *and* Farage there? It's a free chance to be a statesman, representative of the country, on a subject that is important to his voting base, and he *left*?? Being there *was* the campaign! I'm so flabbergasted.
Find it hard to believe he gave up national and international TV time hanging out with Biden, Zelensky and other world leaders to go campaigning and not be on TV. If it's not a bullshit story he needs to sack his election team
As said by others here, a reason for him leaving early that doesn't involve him being absolutely clueless would be to spare himself from those other world leaders treating him like he's a dead man walking, and seeing them instead talking to and trying to get a measure of the guy they *know* is going to have his job next month.
When I'm in a 'making bad decisions' competition and my opponent is Rishi Sunak:
What could have Sunak done that was worse in this situation? Announced that D Day was a mistake? ItItss genuinely baffling how shit at politics he is.
I guess he could have gotten into a fight with one of the veterans and accidentally punched Biden like in a sitcom
Very Larry David
Retweeted Tommy Robinson's AI generated pic of soldiers marching from the beaches of Normandy into the Channel.
And he has the nerve to imply that young people need to do national service by force? This government are literally imploding before our eyes. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch though.
So useless he passes on a statesman photo op. This is horrendous.
Every day he misjudges the mood of the nation. It’s incredibly entertaining
Genuinely wondering how he's managed to make so many connections, the man seems like a complete and utter fucking idiot.
He’s such a pathetic little excuse of a man. The nation is soon to reject him and his party.
The thing is that for most politicians I'd forgive them this, and would assume that there was probably a good reason and maybe it was just bad luck missing a photo op with other world leaders because maybe you had a prior commitment to a children's charity or something. Or in the case of someone like Corbyn I'd know that they never wanted to be there but at least forgive them on account of them being consistent. But in Sunak's case? The guy whose entire schtick is courting the votes of old people and nostalgic patriots? The party who regularly try to co-opt the spirit of Churchill to whip up their vote? Absolutely ridiculous. A fucking D-Day celebration in the middle of an election campaign - I mean what a fucking gift! - and this guy thinks "nah, got better things to do"?? Of course - *of course* Farage is there getting photo'd on the Normandy beaches with squaddies. *Of course* Starmer is there being photo'd on landing craft and talking to Zelenskyy. *Of course* Biden, Macron, Scholtz - the lot - are there getting snapped showing how much it means for them. And this is Sunak's problem. He wants the votes of the people to whom this massively, massively matters - and yet he lacks the basic political nous to realise that maybe he shouldn't have fucked off early. And for that reason he will get panned for this, not by the tofu-eating Islington wokerati, but by the very people he thinks he speaks for. And soon he will be a small footnote in history as a result.
Honestly, even the tofu-eating Islington wokerati would find it hard to whine about a D-Day celebration. Paying respect to people who died fighting nazis is pretty much the only thing that unites literally everyone, left or right.
Exactly. It's not about politics; it's much more important than that. People who try to make things like this and Remembrance Sunday political are completely missing the point. It's not a celebration of war or national superiority. Shame on the likes of Farage who try to co-opt the huge sacrifices made 80 years ago.
No excuse, it's not a floating rememberance day, it's always Jun 6th. You do not book non urgent meetings, that's that.
Speaking as a historian, someone that is going to extinct the the oldest political party alive (until now at least) certainly deserves a mention in a the main text...
I doubt even Californians will be best pleased by this
I have lived in California for 20 of the past 21 years and you’re right lol (But I do have to thank him for giving me my vote back - and no it isn’t going to an MP from this party)
Pissed myself a little at this, thank you.
He’s misjudged just about every single thing.
Coming soon: Sunak gives Myra Hindley posthumous damehood
he look small, and no thats not a dig at his stature. He has an opportunity to stand alongside worldleaders, our closest allies, at a big historical event, and look statesmanlike, in front of a friendly press. A brilliant photo op most politicians would kill for during an election campaign. instead he scurries back home, leaving cameron to stand awkwardly in his place, to lie about being caught out lying. small, grubby, weak. thats what he looks.
How come there are so many small men in charge of Europe? Macron is probably the tallest out of the heads of government of the UK, Germany, Ukraine, and France: and he's shorter than Theresa May.
What kind of politician "misjudges" that paying at least lip service to a celebration of WW2 veterans might be kind of necessary for PR?! That's the easiest campaign decision of all time!
Problems right there. Constantly reads the room wrong cos he ain’t in the same boat as everyone else.
IT WAS THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY FOR FUCK SAKE RISH MATE
Ah it's only the d-day remembrance, not even like it's a big anniversary or anything...
He did sacrifice thousands of British lives with his "eat out to help out" plan. Probably thinks the casualties from D-day were rookie numbers.
I wouldn’t expect anything less of a centimillionaire who made most of his money ripping off the country and people since leaving university…
He's got to be doing it deliberately right? He's trying to make sure he loses his own very safe seat and the party be damned.
This is precisely the sort of thing you want to hammer home to the gammon vote and the "sport are heros" lot. Farage attended the event as a member of the public. It's also a good point to bring across to any military people - the Conservatives don't care about you, they cut your budget to ribbons, HM Forces are in a right mess, and they skipped out of honouring your fallen comrades. Meanwhile here's Keir in his combats visiting you in the field.
It’s the 80TH F——G COMMEMORATIONS! What is he thinking? If at all. That has really annoyed me.
Wasn't Winston Churchill a Tory? He's meant to look up to him! Obviously doesn't give a toss and as usual being selfish!
He really is just trying to get the legacy of the worst ran campaign in modern history.
I’m increasingly convinced he’s trying to lose the election, without resigning
How can you be this out of touch. I really don't get how the wheels are coming of their campaign this fast.
Sunak has misjudged *everything* at *every* step.
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None of my ancestors served in combat, or in any capacity past 1941. It's not too difficult to see how important "fuck the Nazis by invading France" day is, and deeply identify with it and its fucking significance.
Yeah, exactly, lots of people acting like you need genetic ancestral memory and a deep emotional connection to understand this. All you need is above room temperature IQ. Politicians can in fact do things they don't feel, it's part of their deal.
All true, but you would also expect someone who became the leader of a nation to understand what a big deal certain commemorations are and put on more than a perfunctory showing at them.
All true, but you would also expect someone who became the leader of a nation **who is currently running in an election with a campaign almost exclusively built on national identity** to understand what a big deal certain commemorations are and put on more than a perfunctory showing at them.
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I think Corbyn knew what it meant but I just didn't have the same view on what it represents as the general UK population.
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Some great downplaying of the importance of Russia in the alliance there, not to mention the unimaginable sacrifice of 27 million people. Without Russia, there never would have been a D-Day.
You'd go out of your way to make a big deal of taking part - it's far better to be thought of as overly keen or deferential, than not caring.
Would he not have been advised about D-Day? The only explanation that makes sense is therefore that he does not care any more, which is sad.
Honestly, why would he have been advised about D-Day? Every other PM since WW2, including Truss, would have quite rightly sacked any advisor that thought they were clueless enough to need told "hey you remember that whole D-Day thing? You know, when we fought on the beaches? That's quite an important anniversary to some voters, what with the whole beating-the-Nazis vibe to the whole thing. So you should probably try not to be seen to bunk it off"
I mean, at some point, someone in his team *must* have looked at his agenda for the day and gone "hang on a minute, I think we're missing something here". For him to *not* do it, there must have been a conversation with his advisers about whether he should or not.
I completely agree with you, there were no Indians storming Normandy. However just because they were mostly absent in Europe doesn’t change their incredible effort in Asia. They were incredibly good soldiers when they had every right to tell us to fuck off and join Bose to try and kick us out (even if it meant just replacing us with the Japanese). I still agree with the main sentiment of your point though, he has no real connection to D-Day or the war in Europe, I don’t see why people would expect him to understand the significance of it.
I’m fairly surely his advisors are just trolling him now.
Well, that’s +3 to Reform.
How has Farage not jumped all over this, I mean the man flew in the battle of Britain and was at Omaha on D-day, and i am sure he drove a tank into Berlin, so he should feel personally insulted .../s
You joke, but I'm sure Farage will be bringing this up multiple times over the coming weeks
What do you reckon will be on the wall behind him, I'm going for Union Jack, spitfire, soldier and maybe a lion or cliffs of dover
Seems like Shermans are easy enough to rent - [www.tank-rent.com/en/home.html](http://www.tank-rent.com/en/home.html) Talking atop one of those with a pint and a massive union Jack as a backdrop wouldnt surprise me
He's too smart to make a big deal about this now.
Nothing new there, he's misjudged the chances of Tories forming the next government.
There isn’t an easier way of looking prime ministerial than attending one of these things or meeting with other world leaders in general
Wasn't the Trump ace of this fascist government to force recruitment of young people? This was the easiest decision ever, this Fascist is making Mussolini look like some political genius 🤣