be left holding the baby BrE
be left holding the bag AmE

The difference is that you were left holding the baby.

Unfortunately they did not come back so I was left holding the baby.

The Commission should know that it has, to some extent, been left holding the baby.

Ruth, on the other hand, had been left holding the baby when Don ran out.

You have been left holding the baby whilst he carries on with his life pretty much as it was before.

If we cannot get the Council on board, it is we who shall be left holding the baby!

For once President Obama was left holding the baby.

And Rex was left holding the baby.

A confused Hiro is left holding the baby Matt Parkman.

Lewis is left holding the baby when her sister, Chloe, skips town, leaving daughter Suzie in Susan's care.

Peter-Paul's wife goes into labour but it's Quentin who is left holding the baby, with the two cases being heard simultaneously and no other barrister to assist.

The European Central Bank has a €2 trillion balance sheet and if the eurozone slides into the abyss, Germany is going to be left holding the baby.

We know that St Nicholas is not due until December, but I sincerely hope that we can prevent the dockers from being left holding the baby, or in this case Black Peter, as early as this week.

Blade could not have agreed more heartily with Lord Leighton's notion that the fewer wild variables in the project the better, particularly when he was going to be left holding the baby if one of these variables came up spectacularly the wrong way.

After all, it will probably be the case with the 2010 budget, too, that Dutch citizens are left holding the baby and have to dig deep into their pockets, whilst MEPs from 19 out of the 27 countries present here play Santa Claus with other people's money.

This has resulted in the country rigging the game, and you have been only too willing to be taken for a ride, as you are all so Europhile and crave European enlargement so much that you have ceased to be critical altogether, and now we are left holding the baby.

"They just want someone else to be left holding the bag at end of the day."

I've been left holding the bag before, but never one this big.

This performance gave new meaning to the idea of being left holding the bag.

Whether they know it or not, taxpayers may be left holding the bag.

"The developers get rich and the public is left holding the bag."

And if these companies are really going to die anyway, the Chinese will be left holding the bag.

But if the fund collapsed, the bank would be left holding the bag.

Am I supposed to be left holding the bag if word gets out?"

Having been left holding the bag, so to speak, it was up to him to salvage the situation as best he could.

Guess who ultimately will be left holding the bag, Turks ask.

Once again, they will be left holding the bag.

Should the economy or interest rates swing against them, banks could be left holding the bag.

"In the past, the passenger and travel agent have been left holding the bag," he said.

But the partners could be left holding the bag.

Your Speaker will then be left holding the bag and looking stupid."

And now the Islanders are left holding the bag, still searching for offensive help.

The civilians lost heart, messed up the politics, and the soldiers were left holding the bag.

Most natural gas producers were left holding the bag.

"The airlines that didn't take advantage of it are left holding the bag."

By doing so, you can protect your company and your readers from being left holding the bag.

I can't conceive that we will be left holding the bag."

Why should the taxpayer be left holding the bag?"

And we knew deep in our bones that as soldiers we were going to be left holding the bag.

If the company fails, the consumer could be left holding the bag or with a sharply reduced cash value.

But he had been left holding the bag and the bag was proving to be heavy.