Nigel Farage blasted Rishi Sunak for his 'dreadful' decision to skip a D-day event in Normandy as the PM was savaged in a BBC election debate tonight.
Her caveated defence of the PM will raise eyebrows as she is talked about as a potential next leader of the Conservatives if Rishi Sunak leads the party to defeat at the election. The PM this morning apologised for missing a major international D-Day ceremony and said it was a 'mistake' for him to leave before commemoration events were over.
The line-up is was completed by Stephen Flynn, the SNP's Westminster leader, Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, and Rhun ap Iorwerth of Plaid Cymru. Read More Angela Rayner and Penny Mordaunt mocked by BBC debate audience after angry shouting match 'But what I also think is important is we honour their legacy, they fought for our freedom, and unless we are spending the right amount on defence we can't honour that legacy.'
Elsewhere, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner clashed with Ms Mordaunt after she continued to repeat a claim made by the Prime Minister that Labour would raise taxes by £2,000. Ms Rayner responded: 'Penny, that's rubbish and you've just said we need a strong economy - you backed Liz Truss and crashed our economy.'
The programme was watched by an average of just 4.8million viewers, with a peak of 5.2million viewers.