Rishi Sunak’s D-day failure is not just a campaign

He had only to look back a few years to see his error. But today’s politicians keep ignoring history, even when they’ve lived through it

But is it art? Could that explain Rishi Sunak’s campaign – that it is, in fact, a piece of daring, innovative performance art in which the prime minister deliberately conducts himself so haplessly and with such a tin ear that it prompts us to reflect on the state of the nation? Is his future not, as most predict, wearing a zip-up fleece and making squillions in Silicon Valley, but rather as a groundbreaking conceptual artist, one who invites his audience to see 4 July less as an election day and more as the unveiling of his boldest ever installation?

It’s as good an explanation as any. Otherwise it’s near-impossible to comprehend his decision to make an early exit from the memorial ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-day, subbing in his foreign secretary to stand alongside the leaders of France, the US and Germany as they remembered those who died to free Europe from fascism. We shall fight them on the beaches, said Churchill. We shall leave them on the beaches, said Sunak.