To think that if you can't remember to take your 8 year old home from the pub then you can't be trusted to run the country?

[PrettyPrinceofParties]

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/11/david-cameron-daughter-behind-pub?newsfeed=true

It was a mix-up.

An 8 eight year old on their own for 15 minutes is hardly traumatic. It's not as though they were stranded in the middle of nowhere on their own.

I am no fan of the cameron administration but have a degree of sympathy for them in this situation.

Extra adults means extra care needs to be taken to ensure everyone is accounted for. We had similar parental cock ups when I was a kid (I am one of three) and my friends and I nearly lost their 3 yo the other day in jubilee crowds as she was flitting between the adults making it hard for us to be sure who was actually responsible for her.

The fact the story came out today 2 months after the event only serves to highlight that this 'release' is politically motivated. Shame on the journos.

This can only happen if each parent is more concerned about themselves than their kids. Really bad. Not easily done.

I'm not a fan of Cameron, but fgs, parents make mistakes all the time. He's not the first nor the last parent to have done something like this. Judge him on his policies not on a moment of forgetfulness.

I've just told my DH, and said to him, if you did something like this I would slaughter you.

Hands on heart we have never ever left a child behind us. I did drive halfway to work with dd2 in the car one day because I forgot to take her to nursery - but she was with me.

The protection agents are not only there Ito protect mr Cameron - if one of his children was kidnapped he would be terribly compromised. He has put himself at more risk of this happening. It says in one report he had three or four glasses of wine. Pub measures that's a bottle or more at lunchtime.

This does suggest he needs to have a careful think, and his security needs looked at.

"This can only happen if each parent is more concerned about themselves than their kids. Really bad. Not easily done."

I take it that you have never made any kind of mistake with your children rainydaysarebad. How dare you assume they don't care about their children?

I don't think there' been any 'sneering hatred' on this thread. Certainly not from me. I only have a one year old son at the moment and I can't imagine ever misplacing him (or leaving him in the car) and my hubby is incredibly attentive, so I'm surprised how many people have said it's easily done.

Yes, if he wasn't pm we wouldn't even have heard about it, but that doesn't stop me being surprised it happened.

My friend managed to leave 2 dogs at agility training and get all the wat home. Now that's forgetful, as she was actually there to specifically train the dogs then drove home without them!

I have seen a lot of sneering hatred. Just have a look. There is hatred everywhere, it makes proper political debate really difficult.

It would appear that the timing is more than a little cynical, and I love the idea that no-one for a moment stops to think about the motivations for this story coming out now. We all just jump on the bandwagon as though the issue coming out now is some kind of public service rather than a cheap trick.

Why fall for it? It just makes you a puppet in the play.

I agree it's something and nothing and if it happened to anyone else I would just shrug

but

When someone is as smug and self fucking righteous as him, it's hard not to feel differently

We are all told we need patenting classes, our children eat crap, behave badly and Britain is broken because of it. In which case he needs to make sure he's a fucking perfect parent! And not, for instance, leave his dd at the pub, if he doesn't want us all to roll our eyes.

It's all part of his "we're all in this together" bullshit. One rule for us, another for him.

It would not have been something and nothing if someone with an agenda had been opportunistic enough to take the child. Dc would have been seriously compromised. The consequences of him doing this are not the same as an "ordinary" parent.

Let's not get so bogged down in his somewhat underwhelming personality that we miss the actual point.

Shows a stunning lack of organisational skills. What a tool.

i BET all the tutting on this thread is from twee parents of two or an idolised one.

once you get over 2 you are indeed outnumbered

get a life OP

Well Cameron might be able to organise a piss up in a brewery, but I don't fancy his chances of finding his way home afterwards!

oh fgs, bet op couldn't wait to post this! and as much as i detest the man i wouldn't judge him on this

Isn't it somebody's job to know where the people they are supposed to be protecting are?
I don't blame Cameron or his wife really, it is the sort of thing that can happen. But, it is a cock-up by the security people.

I read the Guardian and find David Cameron loathesome but I think this is a non story and was actually pretty disgusted this morning that the Guardian had thought it newsworthy and made it one of the top stories on the website.

I can see how it would be easily done if you have 2 cars and lots of people at lunch. Trying to make out the Camerons are neglectful parents is just crass.

I don't think there' been any 'sneering hatred' on this thread. Certainly not from me. I only have a one year old son at the moment and I can't imagine ever misplacing him (or leaving him in the car) and my hubby is incredibly attentive, so I'm surprised how many people have said it's easily done.

Sneering + no understanding right there :o

Just you wait till you have multiple kids and you go out with friends with loads of kids, and the kids all scurry around and x wants to sit with Y.....I think anyone who has been there knows "there but for the grace of god".

Is the WIght stuff still on?
Im sure I can sense a Daily Mail reporter or Wight stuff researcher on this thread

I reckon he did it on purpose to sound like what he thinks a Normal Man is. Yeah, you know how it is when you're all in the pub eating pasties and drinking a pint of cherry brandy and all that.....

My Dad left my two year old brother wandering about Asda car park once - he managed to get home without noticing. A minute or two later, DBRO2 was presented to the door by a concerned elderly couple.

Mum killed him. figuratively. it was the kind of careless oversight that is very typical of my Dad, who was travelling in one car with one fewer children than would be right...(grammatical nightmare that bit...warg)

but i don't think it has any relevance to his work of the time.. (not PM ing...coding is more important!).

It was lead story on NBC breakfast news so not just guardian.

Not a big deal. Not sure why it was published though - there were lots of stories about the Blair children that the press agreed not to print.

Maybe this is more a parenting issue and that's why. It's The Sun's scoop I understand. I'm guessing that a year ago they would have buried it but, now, they are making a point in publishing.

Well, we've managed to leave the middle one behind once, as I'd told him to stay with his dad, and DH thought he was with me. DS (then 9ish) stayed put until we came back, and has teased us mercilessly about it since. We've left DD when brand new in the car once too (less than 5 minutes, with that strange 'I know I've forgotten something, what could it be?' feeling) It's very easily done.

There were two parents present (or should that be absent?) for this incident. To extrapolate from that that one of them is unfit for a separate role really is over the top.