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Egad! British Prime Minister Left 8-Year-Old Daughter Behind In Pub

British Prime Minister David Cameron in London last month.
Peter Macdiarmid
/
Getty Images
British Prime Minister David Cameron in London last month.

Dad thought she was with mum. Mum thought she was with dad. But 8-year-old Nancy wasn't with either of them.

Instead, she was left behind at a pub in Buckinghamshire, England. It was about 15 minutes before the mistake was realized and the little girl was reunited with her parents.

Oh, yeah, about her parents: They are British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha.

According to the BBC, Cameron's aides say this all happened "a couple of months ago" after a Sunday lunch. No one on Cameron's security detail is expected to be punished. The incident is just now coming to light. Little Nancy was helping the pub's staff when her dad returned to fetch her, the BBC reports. (See Update Below: It now appears it was Samantha Cameron who went back to the pub.)

This blogger once got off a glass-enclosed elevator in a mall and watched with mounting anxiety as his 2-year-old daughter went up another level, all alone, without him. After I ran up a nearby escalator, we were together again.

Any similar stories out there?

Update at 2:50 p.m. ET. It Was Mum, Not Dad, Who Went To Get Nancy.

The Guardian reports that:

"Downing Street, which refused to comment on whether Cameron had had any alcohol during the trip to the Plough Inn in Cadsden, initially claimed that the prime minister dashed to the pub to pick up Nancy, who had been left in the pub toilets. No 10 later confirmed that it was Mrs Cameron who had collected her."

The Guardian ads that the story has stirred "scorn and sympathy" for the prime minister.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.