Prime Minister Rishi Sunak admits he 'made a mistake' leaving D-Day commemorations in Normandy early to take part in a TV interview, but insists his track record shows he is committed to veterans. Report by Alibhaiz. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 Over the past two days I've participated in a number of events in Portsmouth and France to
00:04 honour those who risked their lives to defend our freedom and our values 80 years ago. The itinerary
00:11 for these events was set weeks ago before the start of the general election campaign and having
00:17 participated in all the British events with British veterans I returned home before the
00:22 International Leaders event later in the day. On reflection that was a mistake and I apologise.
00:28 I think it's important though given the enormity of the sacrifice made that we don't politicise
00:34 this. The focus should rightly be on the veterans who gave so much. I had the honour and privilege
00:38 of speaking to many of them and their families, hearing their stories, expressing my gratitude
00:43 personally to them but I'm someone who will always admit when I've made a mistake that's
00:48 what you'll always get from me. I'm told your team considered cancelling your attendance at
00:52 the entire event yesterday. Your team denies this. I'm told by sources that denial is a flat lie. So
01:00 can you clarify for viewers did you or anyone around you ever consider skipping the Northern
01:08 League? That's simply not right. I think people can judge me by my actions when it comes to
01:13 supporting the armed forces in this campaign it's the Conservative Party led by me which is
01:17 increasing the amount of investment that we're putting into our armed forces to two and a half
01:22 percent of GDP. That's not something that's been matched by the Labour Party so there is a clear
01:26 choice about backing our armed forces and it's also me as Prime Minister that's made sure we
01:30 have the first ever dedicated veterans minister in cabinet with a dedicated office for veterans
01:36 affairs which we have fully funded to support veterans whether it's with their mental or
01:39 physical health, with housing, with employment opportunities and that's something that I'm
01:44 personally committed to and my track record demonstrates that.