David Cameron was left red-faced after apparently leaving his ministerial red box unattended on a train – with the key still in its lock.

大卫·卡梅伦显然把首相红盒子落在火车上无人照看，甚至连钥匙还在锁孔里插着。当他发现这一失误后自己也面红耳赤了。

He had been using the distinctive briefcase, bearing his title of ‘Prime Minister’, to carry official papers as he travelled to a wedding in Yorkshire.

这个与众不同的盒子上印有“首相”头衔，卡梅伦去约克郡参加一个婚礼时还一直用它存放官方文件。

It was photographed by a fellow passenger, seemingly unattended on a table, after Mr Cameron wandered to another part of the train. Downing Street insisted that claims of a security breach were ‘nonsense’, and that a member of Mr Cameron’s police protection team was keeping watch at all times.

在火车上，卡梅伦先生到其它车厢走动，把红盒子丢在原位，似乎无人看管。这一场景被同车乘客拍了下来。唐宁街坚持认为根本没有安全漏洞一说，声称卡梅伦先生的警卫保护队中一直有一人时刻看管红盒子。

But the passenger told the Daily Mirror: ‘It was just sitting there.

I could quite easily have damaged it or scratched it ... and above all I couldn’t believe the key was in the lock.’

但有乘客告诉《每日镜报》：“红盒子就那么放在桌上，我甚至可以随时拿起它走人，也可以轻易损毁或在上面乱写乱画……总之我不敢相信钥匙都插在锁里没拔出来。”

A No. 10 spokesman insisted that the box ‘was not left unattended’, adding that ‘the Prime Minister’s security detail was there at all times’. Mr Cameron was, however, said to have been ‘distraught’ when he realised what had happened.

首相府发言人坚持说红盒子“并未无人监管”，还说“首相的安全警卫一直都在附近看守。”然而，据说当卡梅伦先生意识到发生了什么后，他“急得抓狂”。

The incident is highly embarrassing for Mr Cameron. Ministers – let alone Prime Ministers – are advised against working on their official papers while using public transport.

这一事件令卡梅伦先生尴尬不已。政府建议所有部长在使用公共交通工具时都不要打开官方文件办公，更别说首相了。

Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott said: ‘I’m staggered that a prime minister should be so slack about looking after government secrets. The box could have contained detailed confidential intelligence about Syria. I never let mine out of my sight.’

前副首相普莱斯特斯考特说：“一位首相在政府机密前居然如此松懈大意，这太令我震惊了。里面有可能存有和叙利亚有关的机要文件。我的红盒子就从没离开过我的视线。”

The apparent gaffe would not be the first time that Mr Cameron has left something unattended. He famously drove off and left his daughter Nancy, now nine, in a pub after a Sunday lunch last June.

对卡梅伦先生来说，这已不是他第一次犯下疏忽看守的错误了。去年六月某个周日，他在餐厅里吃过午餐后开车离开，却把现年9岁的女儿南希忘在那里。