Minister Chris Philp was cornered on Sky News this morning over Rishi Sunak’s apparent refusal to speak to journalists since his D-Day error.
The prime minister was forced to apologise after he spark outrage by leaving the 80th anniversary commemorations in Normandy early to speak to ITV News.
He last spoke to broadcasters on Friday afternoon, where he admitted his “mistake” and denied claims he had originally planned to skip the whole event.
In the days since, he has laid relatively low and refused to speak to any journalists.
On Monday, presenter Kay Burley spoke to Philp, and asked: “I wonder how bruised he is though, as I said, by this misstep, because we haven’t really seen him talking to journalists, or wanting to chat to people in any way, other than the people he’s wanting to do his photo opportunities with.
“He cancelled a media huddle on Saturday, and we haven’t really seen him since.”
The policing minister replied: “As I understand it, I think he’s out on the campaign trail today, meeting people no doubt including journalists as well.
“I’m sure he regrets deeply having not attended that event, which is obviously why he rightly apologised – because it was a mistake – but he’s recognised that, he’s apologised, and I think we will see him bouncing around the campaign trail this week, and I’m sure we will see him talking to journalists whenever they want to ask him some questions.”
Burley added that Sunak’s foreign secretary, the former PM Lord David Cameron, should have advised him not to leave the D-Day event.
She then noted that some reports claim Cameron did just that, and Sunak personally decided to ignore that advice.
Philp just replied: “I don’t know the inner workings of who recommended what, and what adviser said what....”
Philp, a Sunak loyalist, did add that he was “surprised and disappointed” when he heard the PM had skipped part of the event.
But he noted: “I think if you look at his track record, looking after veterans and funding the armed services, he’s got a good track record.”