Rishi Sunak was late for the television interview he left the D-Day commemorations for – and blamed it on the Normandy event which he said, “ran over”.

The British prime minister cut away from last week’s event with world leaders that marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at Normandy so he could record an interview with ITV as part of the general election campaign.

Sunak has apologised for missing the remainder of the commemorations – which were attended by King Charles, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and other leaders – and on Monday asked D-Day veterans to “find it in their hearts” to forgive him.

At the start of the interview for ITV’s Tonight program, Sunak apologised to presenter Paul Brand for being late, saying the “incredible” commemorations in Normandy “all just ran over”.

Asked if he had the opportunity to meet any of the veterans, Sunak replied: “Gosh, lots over yesterday and today. Yeah. I’ve already spoke to almost everyone that was there, I hope.”

The PM also said in the interview that he went without “lots of things” as a child growing up, revealing he was forced to miss out on Sky TV.

When asked about his wealth and if he ever had to go without something he wanted, Sunak said: “There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have.

“Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually. But it was lots of things, but again, that’s my experience.”

Sunak grew up in Southampton and attended Winchester College, a private boarding school in Hampshire.