UK's Sunak apologises after skipping main D-Day event in France

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologised for leaving the D-Day commemorations in France early to give a domestic television interview, the latest self-inflicted setback to his stuttering general election campaign.

Political opponents accused Sunak of "a total dereliction of duty" by skipping a major international ceremony with world leaders on Thursday, while he also attracted criticism from his Conservative party colleagues.

Sunak attended a British-organised memorial before returning home and missed the main ceremony at Omaha Beach, attended by France's President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned to the UK," Sunak said in a post on the social media site X on Friday.

"On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer and I apologise."

One Normandy veteran told Sky News the move "lets the country down".

Sunak, whose Conservatives are set to lose the July 4 general election heavily according to polls, sent Foreign Secretary David Cameron to the event instead, where he was pictured alongside other world leaders.

Sunak's main opponent in the election, Labour leader Keir Starmer, did stay on and was photographed meeting Zelenskyy.

'Unacceptable to leave D-Day events'

A snap YouGov poll found 65 percent believed it was "unacceptable" to have left the D-Day events early including more than two-thirds of Conservative voters at the last election in 2019.

The D-Day ceremonies marked the 80th anniversary of the launch of Operation Overlord when tens of thousands of Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.

The vast military operation paved the way for liberation of occupied France and the end of the war against Nazi Germany.

Commentators suggested that Sunak's decision to miss the main ceremony heralding the soldiers' bravery showed a lack of political nous.

"It's a very important moment for the country. But it's also a very important moment to show that you're being prime ministerial," Cameron's former adviser Craig Oliver told BBC radio.