LONDON — Eighty years after Sir Winston Churchill helped mastermind the D-Day landings, a British prime minister was under fire for leaving commemorations early to return to the campaign trail of an election he looks likely to lose.

Rishi Sunak apologized Friday, but not before his decision to head home early from Normandy to give a TV interview saw him assailed by criticism from his own allies as well as his political enemies.

“After the conclusion of the British event in Normandy, I returned back to the UK,” Sunak said in a post on X early Friday.

“On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer — and I apologise.”

Sunak said that the anniversary “should be about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The last thing I want is for the commemorations to be overshadowed by politics.”

And yet in the eyes of many that damage had already been done.

Churchill played one of the most pivotal roles in D-Day as an architect of Allied strategy, having rallied his country from the brink of defeat and giving some of the most inspiring speeches of the war.

The contrast could not be more extreme, in the eyes of some Brits, to Sunak — the country’s embattled and deeply unpopular current leader.

His Conservative Party is trailing significantly in opinion polls ahead of the election Sunak called for July 4, a surprise early vote.

That meant the commemorations for D-Day fell in the heart of the campaign.

Sunak traveled to France to join King Charles III, French President Macron and others at a British-led memorial Thursday morning, honoring the 60,000 or so British troops who joined thousands more from Canada and the United States in the invasion that helped turn the tide against Nazi Germany.

But he delegated his other duties to ministers including Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was pictured with President Joe Biden and others at the main memorial ceremony later Thursday.

British media reported that Sunak had traveled home to give an interview to ITV News.

That decision prompted consternation from the media, with the left-leaning tabloid The Daily Mirror splashing ‘PM DITCHES D-DAY’ on its front page.

The opposition Labour Party, which many polls suggest could be on course for a landslide election win, accused Sunak of a “dereliction of duty.” Ed Davey, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats who are hoping to win some core Conservative seats, said Sunak had “abandoned” those who fought in the bloody battle of Normandy.

“One of the greatest privileges of the office of prime minister is to be there to honor those who served, yet Rishi Sunak abandoned them on the beaches of Normandy,” Davey said Friday morning, according to the PA news agency.

“He has brought shame to that office and let down our country.”

The criticism was hardly less scathing from some on Sunak’s own side.

“The Prime Minister having to apologise for not staying for all of the D-Day commemorations is a major moment in this campaign. It was a huge error of judgment — suggesting he put politics before what really matters and allowing his opponents to suggest he doesn’t care,” said Craig Oliver, a journalist who was Cameron’s head of communications when he was prime minister.