Larry the No 10 cat catches a mouse

Downing Street’s chief mouser snares his first prey after two months in the job It’s a good job his political masters don’t do targets any more, because otherwise Larry the cat must surely have failed. After two months in the job, Downing Street’s “chief mouser” – as cats who catch government rats are called – finally snared his first prey. On Good Friday, Larry appeared through a window from the Downing Street garden with a mouse in his mouth. He is supposed to have dropped his swag at the feet of No 10′s secretaries. Recruited to deal with a rodent problem – black rats have been seen bolting across the Downing Street lawn – Larry has preferred hanging out in the corridors of power to stalking in the grass. Announcing his new hire in February, the prime minister’s spokesman said Larry had been “highly recommended”. The four-year-old tabby cat, who came from the Battersea dogs and cats home, had a “very strong predatory drive and high chase-drive and hunting instinct”, the spokesman said. But whether vegetarian, pacifist or just more a political anorak than a trained killer, Larry failed to deliver in his first two months in power. Staff resorted to training Larry by giving him a toy mouse to play with. In Margaret Thatcher’s period as PM, a stray called Humphrey was adopted after wandering into No 10. Humphrey was kept on in the post by John Major, but was sacked when Tony Blair entered office in 1997, with Cherie Blair thought to be responsible for blackballing him. David Cameron Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.