My father was a Normandy veteran – Sunak’s D-Day behaviour was an insult to those like him

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Rishi Sunak showed up to an event to remember these heroes… and did the bare minimum he thought was required (POOL/AFP via Getty)

You do not have to be British to be insulted by Rishi Sunak’s failure to fully participate in international events honouring veterans on the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing.

My father was a Normandy veteran, a Jewish draftee from New York, who ended up with two Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and a box full of other medals from both the US and France. He trained in England and idolised the Queen Mother during the war.

The problem with Sunak’s apologies and explanations hitting the news media from Downing Street is that this incident is entirely transparent.

Research by The Independent shows that a campaigning Sunak “is being forced to rely on a dwindling pool of donors” as polls indicate a Tory wipeout by the Labour Party. He is desperately taking every opportunity he can to fight his corner in this election.

The affront to my dad is that his “greatest generation” put their lives on the line for equality and freedom, for people of all means and strata to achieve their hopes and aspirations. Sunak showed up to an event to remember these heroes and did the bare minimum he thought was required.

It is up to his constituencies and voters to evaluate the act.

As for the legacy of my father, he passed on his memories of the Second World War to his grandchildren. My children all went on to public and even military service and never took the freedom they have for granted.

Dr Mark Scheinbaum

Boca Raton, Florida

National disservice

Sunak wants my grandson to do national service to “foster a culture of service”, but cut his own duties short when he came home early from the D-Day commemorations.

He subsequently claimed it was important not to "politicise" his return... though he had returned to do a political interview. The mind boggles!

Bill Bradbury

Bolton

Does Sunak want to lose?

There was the rain-soaked announcement of the election date. Then came the Titanic incident and the “exit” photo fail. Now Sunak has made a profuse apology for skipping the D-Day commemoration and leaving David Cameron to join other world leaders – because Sunak himself had electioneering work to do.

It’s becoming difficult to avoid the suspicion that he not only expects, but actually wants to lose the election. If he loses his seat, does he hope to be able to join one of the other parties? We could speculate about which one he has in mind.

Susan Alexander

South Gloucestershire

Playing catch up

Keir Starmer keeps getting it wrong on Palestine. Recognition is an unconditional, freestanding and immediate right, promised by Britain over a century ago but reneged upon ever since.

The law, which Starmer seems ignorant of, requires Israel’s unconditional withdrawal from all the territories it captured in 1967.

The International Court of Justice will spell this out and, once again, Britain will be playing catch-up – as it did with apartheid South Africa.

David McDowall

Richmond

Drilling their grave

So the SNP deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, appears to be rewriting history as she claims the SNP has never been opposed to new North Sea oil and gas exploration. I can understand the SNP, faced with losing their Westminster seats by the shed load, is desperate to gain votes in the Tory-leaning North East, but is Forbes going the right way about it?

Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf were both adamantly opposed to new drilling positions. Sturgeon even expressed utter contempt at Sunak granting 100 new oil and gas licenses, accusing him of damaging the planet. Rather than presenting a well-thought-out, long-term energy strategy, Forbes is making her party look duplicitous and frankly opportunistic.

Martin Redfern

Roxburghshire