Rishi's D-Day disaster will be remembered as one of the biggest political gaffes in recent memory, writes Andy Coulson
12 June 2024, 10:08
- Andy Coulson is the former Downing Street Director of Communications, Founder of www.coulsonpartners.com and host of the www.crisiswhatcrisis.com podcast.
The Prime Minister’s D Day disaster will be remembered as one of the great political campaigning gaffes.
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But that is the wrong characterisation. Gaffes are in-the-moment errors of judgement. This one was so much more than that.
Before the PM called the election three weeks ago, someone in his senior team would have been tasked with drafting the initial grid. That would have included the number of set pieces that the PM would be expected to attend, including the Normandy anniversary.
In any normal world this would have been greeted with cheers from the Tory war room. Two days to look Prime Ministerial alongside a leader of the opposition forced to play second fiddle? Oh, and a chance to be photographed with world leaders and heroic veterans? Manna from campaigning heaven.
That Team Sunak saw this Union Jack draped opportunity as an irritating inconvenience revealed just how broken the machine around the PM has become. I doubt, as a result, that people actually think Rishi is unpatriotic – as a whip-smart Labour supporter portrayed him in the brilliant ‘He left them on the beaches’ tactical poster.
But what is certain is that the PM now looks self-absorbed and much more importantly, a man you wouldn’t necessarily rush to be in the trenches with. The real cost of that shocker of a decision is that Rishi’s perfectly reasonable ‘you don’t have to like me, but you can trust me’ strategy is in tatters.
To his credit, the PM has stayed in the saddle. His manifesto launch today was not devoid of good ideas. Cutting NI and stamp duty for first time buyers are positive policies for middle income, hard-working families.
But in delivering this package the PM looked like a man who doesn’t think he can win. More worryingly he at times also looked like a man who doesn’t want to win … just a hint of ‘please make it stop’ creeping into his body language. I suspect he’s not alone and that many in his team simply want to Get Rexit Done.
To maintain his – and their - mojo until July 4th, the PM’s only option is to channel, ironically enough, Churchill. Winston’s KBO (Keep Buggering On) rallying cry must now be Rishi’s personal campaign slogan.
It’s time to jump on the desk at campaign headquarters, take responsibility for the mistakes and reenergise his embattled, knackered team. To ask them to pour everything into the remaining hours until polling day so that in the years ahead they can at least look each other in the eye and say: ‘We went down fighting.’
