A political analysis of Prime Minister Sunak’s stunning failure to appreciate the moment when he left the D-Day ceremony and allowed Sir Kier Starmer of Labour to get the worldwide-distributed photograph with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, instead of himself.

D-Day for Sunak (Ian Dunt, June 7, 2024)

“His campaign has done for election strategy what Suez did for military intervention.”

The one clip from the ITV interview released so far shows the prime minister insisting he’s not a liar. He is of course, but that’s not the most interesting thing about it. It’s that it reveals the underlying reason why he made the D-Day mistake in the first place. It shows the truth of the matter. He jetted back to London to clean up the mess of his previous mistake earlier in the week, when he misled voters during the leaders’ debate.

And why had he committed that mistake? So he could distract from the other errors he’d made before that, not least his various half-arsed policy ideas, all of which fell apart upon contact with reality. And why had he been putting out these policy ideas? Because his campaign had been derailed by his previous gaffs and cock-ups, including the near-Biblical stupidity of announcing it in the rain without an umbrella while telling everyone had a plan.

And why was he making that announcement? Because he decided to hold an election early when he was 20-points down in the polls, without any clearly articulable reason why. And why was he 20-points down in the polls? Because of all the other mistakes he made during his time in power - asking people to judge him on pledges he could not achieve and failed to accomplish, setting himself up as a change candidate before changing his mind again a few days later, and generally exhibiting the charisma and political judgement of a dirty puddle by a suburban petrol station.

Still though. It’s alright. He’s got a plan.

What is the plan? Dunno. Couldn’t tell you. Something about trans people in toilets. But he’s got a plan. Trust him.

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