Flying over choppy seas, did he ever think that exactly 80 years ago today, thousands of brave men had sailed in the opposite direction, terrified but unfazed, many of them never to return home?
But the prime minister’s decision to cut short his participation in Thursday’s commemorations of the Normandy landings wasn’t just an insult to the best generation: it was yet another sign that Mr Sunak is really, really bad at politics.
On a human level, someone like Sunak, who had spent the previous 36 hours in the company of dignified old people and their descendants who would have just wanted to get on with the day, could not have imagined risking offending them by saying that there were more important things in the diary.
And even if he lacked that feeling, surely Sunak, or at least the team around him, had a spark of political savvy to point out how unseemly it would be to prioritise one’s own political survival over honouring those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
How can they fail to recognise the immense respect that Brits have for their veterans, particularly those who fought and lost their lives in World War II? D-Day is part of post-war British legend, the moment when Britain became an ally and helped defeat an enemy of pure evil.
The backlash over the snub was swift and fierce – forcing Mr Sunak to take the extraordinary step of issuing a statement at 7:45 a.m. on Friday, apologising profusely for his “mistakes”. Belatedly, Mr Sunak and his advisers hope that realising how badly his resignation would affect them, announcing a highly unlikely prime ministerial apology will put an end to the mess and allow them to move on.
