‘Bruised’ Rishi Sunak to return to the campaign trail after D-Day debacle as Cabinet colleague is forced to shut down resignation speculation – and Nigel Farage sparks fury over tone of attack on PM

A ‘bruised’ Rishi Sunak returns to the campaign trail today as Nigel Farage sparked a racing row over the Prime Minister’s D-Day fiasco.

The Prime Minister spent a quiet weekend regrouping after a storm of criticism over his decision to return early from last week’s 80th anniversary commemorations, for which he apologized on Friday.

Secretary Work and Pensions Mel Stride was forced to quell speculation that Sunak could resign before the election.

He said the Prime Minister was “very patriotic” and had taken the criticism “very deeply personally” but that there was “no way” he would resign.

As one ally said the Prime Minister felt ‘bruised’ by the furore: Tory sources said he would return to the forefront of the campaign, including a major BBC interview tonight on primetime TV.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty with 98-year-old D-Day veteran Alec Penstone at the 80th anniversary of the Allied Normandy landings

Mr Sunak with the King and Queen and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte at the memorial

Yesterday, Mr Farage tried to capitalize on the row by accusing Mr Sunak of being ‘unpatriotic’. But the reform leader was accused of “dog-whistle politics” – code for subtly appealing to racist sentiments – when he suggested the prime minister doesn’t care about “our culture”.

Farage told the BBC that Sunak “should have known in his heart that it was good to be there.”

He claimed the Tory leader ‘doesn’t really care about our history, and frankly doesn’t care about our culture either’.

Challenged by the comments, he insisted he was talking about Mr Sunak’s “class” and not his heritage as the son of first-generation immigrants.

Mr Farage denied any racial element and said ’40 per cent of our contribution’ to the two world wars ‘came from the Commonwealth’.

He added that the Prime Minister was “by class, by privilege, completely disconnected from how ordinary people feel. He revealed that, I think in spectacular fashion, when he left Normandy early.”

Mr Stride said he felt “very uncomfortable” with the “ill-considered” comments, adding: “I am very proud that we have a British-Asian right-hand man at the top of our government.”

Labor spokesperson Shabana Mahmood accused Farage of ‘dog-whistle politics’.

“We can all see exactly what he is doing, he has form, it is completely unacceptable,” she added.

“This is a man who has a track record of dividing communities who only want to do so with a veneer of respect.”

Mr Sunak attended D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth and Normandy, France, last week.

Nigel Farage speaks during the BBC’s seven-party debate. The reform leader has accused Mr Sunak of being unpatriotic

But he left Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron to represent Britain at an “international event” attended by Emmanuel Macron, Joe Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky and other world leaders. The Prime Minister apologized the next day, saying he “deeply regretted” his decision to leave early. The backlash has deepened the gloom surrounding the Tory campaign, which has so far failed to reduce Labour’s huge lead in the polls.

Former minister Nadine Dorries suggested this weekend that the Prime Minister could even ‘fall on his sword’, but senior Tories have dismissed this.

One said: ‘In the words of Churchill, he must keep going – there is no other option. He should just stop doing that shit.’

Mr Sunak told The Mail On Sunday: “We all make mistakes. We are all human. But I am motivated to do the best I can for this country. That’s what keeps me going.’

He hopes to restart the Conservative campaign tomorrow, when he is expected to unveil the party manifesto and focus on the political divide over taxes.

Mr Stride told Sky News that Mr Sunak will ‘absolutely’ lead the Tories into the election and denied that ‘all is lost’.