Former cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt has revealed she threatened to pull out of a general election TV debate if she couldn’t apologise for Rishi Sunak skipping a D-Day event.
The then Commons leader – who went on to lose her seat to Labour – told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast that Number 10 didn’t want her to say the decision was wrong.
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She said she told them: “If you don’t want me to say that, go and call someone else into these debates.”
Mr Sunak came under fire weeks into the general election campaign when he left an 80th anniversary event in Normandy early to carry out a TV interview.
Although he apologised, such was the strength of criticism that he was forced to deny rumours he had considered quitting in the wake of the controversy.
Ms Mordaunt took part in a BBC seven-way TV debate the day after the drama unfolded, and said her then-boss’s decision was “completely wrong”.
She told the podcast that she knew it was going to be the first question she’d be asked, and it could distract from attacking Labour’s tax plans if she didn’t answer it head on.
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