Rishi Sunak’s D-Day blunder

It’s Rishi Sunak’s final day in Washington. Having ducked an invitation to throw the first pitch at the Washington Nationals baseball game last night, he will today sit down for a formal “bilat” with Joe Biden at the White House, host a joint press conference and hobnob with business bigwigs at a roundtable. What larks! But while Cockburn applauds Sunak’s transatlantic travels, is there a danger perhaps that Britain’s California-lovin’ PM is getting a little too Americentric?

The Tory leader shared a post Wednesday to mark the anniversary of D-Day when, in his words, “British and American soldiers were landing on the beaches of Normandy.” He tweeted images of himself laying a remembrance wreath along with emojis of the British and American flags. But where exactly was the Canadian one? Some 14,000 Canadians landed or parachuted into the invasion area on D-Day, with the Canadian War Museum recording more than 1,000 casualties including 359 deaths.

These men were key to taking the “Juno” stretch of the Normandy coast – as dozens of Canadians on Twitter have been quick to point out. Kevin Vuong, a Toronto Member of Parliament, noted that “Not only was it our troops that advanced the furthest inland of any of the Allied forces, many Canadians also made the ultimate sacrifice during the Dieppe Raid that led to successful D-Day tactics.”

Something to remember next time there’s talk of the great “friendship” between Britain and Canada…

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.