Senior Conservative Party adviser resigns over Sunak's 'disrespect' for D-Day

Ian Acheson, an adviser to Michael Gove, said the Prime Minister's decision to walk out of the D-Day event was a “colossal act of disrespect”.

Michael Gove's leading adviser quits the Tory party over Rishi Sunak's “cynical” decision to end D-Day celebrations early.

Ian Acheson, who advised the community secretary on extremism, said the Prime Minister's decision to attend a pre-election TV interview was a “colossal act of disrespect” towards war veterans, which could be the last event they attend.

< p>In his resignation letter, seen by The Telegraph, Mr Acheson, the former prison governor, said: “This was an act of either colossal stupidity or cynical calculation.”

“Anyway, it revealed to me that while I still subscribe to the conservative philosophy, I no longer want it outsourced to a bunch of lying, incompetent and disreputable clowns. 

“The country before the party. Always.”

He said Mr Sunak's move was “the straw that broke the camel's back” amid his growing frustration with the government's handling of the criminal justice system.

The Prime Minister left. commemoration to give an interview to ITV in which he defended his highly contested claim that Labour's policies would lead to a £2,000 tax rise.

Mr Acheson, whose uncle fought in the Second World War as a desert rat, said: “I don't want to associate myself with a party that behaves that way.”

“Pre-election campaigning is ahead. To solemnly honor those who gave so much for the freedom we enjoy today is simply inexcusable.

“And, I might add, alien to the core values ​​of the party I joined.”

He added: “These guys won’t be at the next anniversary. For him to decide to go back to pre-recording an interview defending the indefensible is simply inexcusable.”

Mr Acheson advised Mr Gove on his plans to tackle extremists, setting out a new definition of non-violent extremism which will be used to identify and publish a list of Islamist and far-right groups.

The Skills Secretary also instructed him to commission an independent review of the threat from extremism in prisons and a serious investigation into the crisis facing former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith's Center for Social Justice prisons.

< p>He is a senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project and a visiting professor at Staffordshire University.

Mr Acheson was a chief prison officer for nine years, as well as a senior civil servant and chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.