John Swinney has hit out at the Prime Minister for leaving the D-Day commemorations in Normandy early to record an interview with ITV.
He said it was a “breathtakingly terrible decision" by the Prime Minister.
The First Minister accused the Tory leader of disrespecting veterans and failing to represent the interests of the UK with the other world leaders attending the ceremony in France.
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The Tory campaign has been plunged into chaos after the Prime Minister skipped a major international ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on Thursday afternoon.
The event on Omaha Beach was attended by Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, but it was left to Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to represent the UK.
It emerged later on Thursday that Mr Sunak had returned to the UK to do a pre-recorded interview with ITV.
The decision sparked anger from supporters and opponents alike.
Mr Sunak apologised for the snub on Friday morning.
Taking to X, he tweeted: “I care deeply about veterans and have been honoured to represent the UK at a number of events in Portsmouth and France over the past two days and to meet those who fought so bravely.
“After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK. On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise.”
Speaking at a campaign event in Glasgow on Friday, Mr Swinney said the Prime Minister made a “foolish decision to turn his back on the D-Day commemorations”.
“I think it’s a truly, breathtakingly terrible decision on a number of counts,” he said.
“One, it was disrespectful to the veterans for the Prime Minister to leave as he did.
“Secondly, there was a major gathering of international leaders at which the president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany, the president of France, the president of Ukraine, a variety of international leaders were present where I would have thought the Prime Minister would have wanted to be seen.”
He said that despite the election and the dissolution of parliament Mr Sunak was still the Prime Minister and should have remained to “represent the international interests of the United Kingdom”.
He said the decision to leave “tells us all we need to know” about the judgment of the Prime Minister.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Sunak’s actions had “brought shame” to the office of Prime Minister.
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Sir Keir Starmer also criticised the Prime Minister.
“This election is about character, who you have in your mind’s eye when you make decisions.
“And for me there was only one place I was going to be, which is there to pay my respects to the veterans.
“And to say thank you to them on behalf of all of us, including my young children who, as I said to many of the veterans, were pretty carefree yesterday going to school.
“But that was down to their sacrifice, and the sacrifice particularly of those colleagues of theirs who didn’t make it back.
“I made a choice yesterday about what I would do as leader of the Labour Party and as a candidate to be prime minister and I knew I should be there. This was not a discussion.
“It was my duty to be there, it was my privilege to be there.
“Privilege is a word that is probably overused in politics but I felt privileged to be able to be with veterans who had fought on D-day against the odds to liberate Europe and to allow me to grow up in peace and freedom and democracy.”
Speaking to broadcasters later on Friday, the Prime Minister reiterated his apology but pushed for the issue not to be politicised.
“I think it’s important though, given the enormity of the sacrifice made, that we don’t politicise this. The focus should rightly be on the veterans who gave so much,” he said.
“I had the honour and privilege of speaking to many of them and their families, hearing their stories, expressing my gratitude personally to them.
“But I’m someone who will always admit when I’ve made a mistake and that’s what you’ll always get from me.”
Asked directly if he or anyone around him had ever considered skipping the events, he replied: “That’s simply not right. The itinerary for these events was set weeks ago, before the general election campaign.”
He told Sky News “I stuck to the itinerary.”
Pollsters Savanta predict it will cause the Tories, who are already languishing in the polls, “as much political pain as humanly possible”.
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