Introduction
British politics can be fluid and volatile. In recent years, Prime Ministers have come and gone faster than a set of revolving doors, but one political animal that has firmly stayed put is the Downing Street cat, Larry. Born in 2007 and now 17, Larry is a feline civil servant. Employed as a mouser with board and sustenance included, Larry has walked the Downing Street estate since February 2011. One of two cats, the other being Freya, Larry has witnessed the reigns of Queen Elizabeth II and now Charles III and served under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and now Sir Keir Starmer.
A National Treasure
Born as a stray cat, Larry was rescued by Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and was later adopted by David Cameron as a pet for his children. Described by Downing Street staff as a “good rattler” and having “a high-chase drive and hunting instinct”, Larry’s rise to the political stage has, according to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, led to a 15 per cent increase in cat adoptions. The Downing Street website describes Larry’s duties as “greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality”. Funded by voluntary donations by members of staff, quiz nights and other fundraising events in the banquet room, David Cameron described Larry in PMQs as a civil servant and not personal property, and that’s why he remained in residence when David left office in 2016.
Although employed as a mouser, Larry is reported to be sleeping more than catching mice. An infestation that has been so bad in previous years that David Cameron once threw a fork at a mouse during a cabinet dinner. However, Larry has improved in his role in recent years, prone to killing mice and depositing them on the Downing Street lawn—a cat with a higher opinion poll rating than Prime Ministers, with a high of 44%.
Larry is often spotted wandering around the front of Downing Street and usually pops up when a scrum of journalists adorn the front entrance. A cat who former US President Barak Obama took a shining to in his visits to the UK, often giving the feline legend a stroke. A President who the cat felt a bond with. However, Cameron didn’t like that Larry left cat hairs on his suit and sprayed copious amounts of air freshener in his political home to disguise the smell of cat food. Although he did express his sadness that he could not take Larry with him when he left office. A cat who has been said to get on with dogs but had a fraught relationship with a Foreign Office cat called Palmerston. In one fight, Larry lost his collar, and Palmerston suffered several deep scratches and a badly cut ear. A cat who was honoured with a blue plaque at Battersea Cats & Dogs Home in October 2012 and is a weekly cartoon in the Sunday Express drawn by cartoonist Ted Harrison
