Cameron leaves daughter after Sunday-lunch pub mix-up

Downing Street have confirmed today that in a recent mix up, Prime Minister David Cameron’s eight-year-old daughter, Nancy, was left alone in a local pub for around 15 minutes when her each of her parents believed her to be with the other.

The story has been picked up on despite the fact that it happened around two months ago, in part because it comes as David Cameron is planning to re-launch its £450 million programme for troubled families, and some of the Prime Minister’s critics belief the incident to be hypocritical.

An insider at The Plough, where David Cameron was dining with his wife Samantha at the time of the mix up, said: “It’s frightening the prime minister of Britain can forget something so important as his own daughter.”

The Cameron family, including their other children Arthur, six, and 22-month-old Florence, were dining with two other families at the pub near Chequers, Buckinghamshire. A Downing Street spokeswoman refused to comment on whether Mr Cameron had been drinking alcohol himself.

Nancy Cameron was left in the pub when she went to the toilet as her parents were leaving in different cars, and neither the Prime Minister nor his wife noticed she was missing until arriving home around 15 minutes later, when Mr Cameron went back to the pub to collect her.

The spokeswoman explained the mix up, saying: “Sam thought the PM had Nancy, the PM thought Sam had Nancy. They take responsibility for their own children. No one is going to face disciplinary action.”

Downing Street has been careful to mention that the Camerons’ security guards will not take any responsibility for the incident.

The Downing Street spokeswoman said in the same statement that Mr Cameron is keen to spend time with his family whenever possible. She said: “As you know, the Prime Minister is a very busy man but he always tries to live as normal a life as possible with his family.”

Abbie Cavendish