ENGLAND – David Cameron has issued a public apology after leaving Nick Clegg alone in Downing Street, and technically in charge of the country, for almost 15 minutes.
Mr Cameron is reported to have “nipped off to the shops” with Chancellor George Osborne when they realised Mr Clegg was not with them.
Downing Street officials confirmed the 45-year-old Liberal Democrat was effectively left to run the country for a quarter of an hour.
Nightmare scenario
Mr Cameron said he had been “distraught” when in the frozen foods aisle the Chancellor pointed out Nick Clegg had been left in his office.
“It’s the stuff of nightmares for any majority government leader,” said Cameron. “I just assumed he was following along like he always does.”
A Downing Street insider told investigators it was frightening that the prime minister could forget “something so important as keeping Nick Clegg in his sights at all times and away from power.”
The incident took place month ago, but the Conservative leader said he still wakes up “in a cold sweat” over it.
“I keep thinking, ‘what if something terrible had happened?’ Like he choked on a coin, or joined the Euro while I wasn’t looking.”
“I would never have forgiven myself.”
Mr Cameron’s office confirmed there “are security arrangements in place for Nick,” but declined to provide the numbers of detectives assigned to the Lib Dem leader.
Downing Street said although no protection officers would face disciplinary action, it would place stronger safeguards to ensure Nick Clegg could not come this close to making a difference again.
Still visibly shaken when recalling of the ordeal, the PM went on to say “it was only 15 minutes but it felt like 15 days.”
‘It won’t happen again’
He then asked the British voting public to forgive him before promising to keep the Deputy Prime Minister on an even tighter leash than he is currently on.
Reaction from ministers has been mixed, with several showing concern that the Prime Minister could be so negligent.
“He’s lucky something terrible did not occur,” blasted a Tory backbencher who said his heart stopped when he heard the news. ”We could have been looking at Alternative Vote.”
However, there was some support from Labour leader Ed Miliband who empathised with the situation.
“When someone is pushed so far into the recesses of governmental duty. It is easy to forget they are there,” he confessed.
“Believe me I know.”
Leave a Reply