Was this the moment that Rishi Sunak lost the general election?

When Morgan McSweeney first began working with Keir Starmer as a key aide, he had one priority for the Labour party. 

The man who would go on to be Starmer's campaign director wanted to focus relentlessly on patriotism, believing that voters did not believe that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn loved their country. And Starmer agreed.

For them, a key moment came in the Autumn of 2022 at Labour's annual conference in Liverpool. It was just weeks after the Queen passed away and they knew that it was critical that Labour marked the moment well.

It may not have seemed that much to most of us. Still, the fact that Starmer was able to lead a minute's silence in respect of the queen, on a conference stage decorated in the colours of the Union Jack, without interruption or heckles, felt like a huge moment for the party.

The fact that it was followed by the conference's first-ever rendition of the National Anthem, hammered the message home. 

Since then, Starmer has tried to (sometimes literally) wrap the party in the flag, culminating in this campaign with perhaps a favourite moment for some of his aides - the Labour leader flanked by 14 new former military candidates. 

But they could never have dreamt of the optics of yesterday: their leader standing with President Zelenskyy on a Normandy beach promising to continue support for Ukraine if he wins the leadership, while the PM rushed home early. 

The reason it seemed so bizarre was that earlier - ahead of the campaign - Sunak did a big speech on national security, suggesting this should be the dividing line in this election.

And I could understand why he chose that issue - because security and defence was the one issue on which the Tories still had a small polling lead over Labour.

So why would the PM give up the opportunity of this moment - flanked by the leaders of the US, France and Germany? Why would he return home and spend some of that time carrying out an interview for ITV? 

The prime minister apologised again on Friday for having left early, but highlighted that he had participated in "all the British events with British veterans"

Some say Sunak has long been less interested in the world-stage aspect of the job.

An ambassador told me recently that it had been noticed globally by world leaders that Sunak kept sending David Cameron in his place (arguing they had seen economy ministers become PMs in the past - and focus too much on domestic issues). Some say he doesn't like the 'pomp'. 

But that feeds this impression of Sunak as an administrator, rather than a world leader, and it is the impression he needed not to be making now.

One Tory MP sent me an emoji of a green, sick-filled face, in response. And even in the campaign, senior figures were clearly furious. 

On the Labour side - one source claimed it was the worst mistake ever made in an election campaign. That is a big claim - and I'm not sure it is quite as big as when Gordon Brown was recorded calling voter Gillian Duffy 'bigoted' when she raised concerns about immigration. 

But if Sunak's party is crushed as some polls suggest - I suspect we will look back and see this as the day he lost the election.

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