LARRY the cat proved he’s the one with claws at Downing Street by catching a mouse right in front of the TV cameras.
While PM Keir Starmer was giving a big speech on Wednesday, the 19-year-old tabby was hard at work.
In the background of the TV cameras, Larry was caught pouncing on the rodent outside the Foreign Office.
The “Chief Mouser” was seen playing with his prize, tossing it in the air and grabbing the kill in his mouth.
He then dragged it to the back door of Number 10 and ate it for his lunch.
This was all while Starmer sought to reassure the British public that he would seek to mitigate the rising cost of living.
Larry arrived at Downing Street from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in 2011 and was tasked with fixing a rat problem.
At the time Larry was described “a cat who enjoys attention” but was also “a bit of a bruiser” with excellent mousing skills.
Larry however gained a reputation for being “lazy” and spending too much time napping.
Yet by June 2011, David Cameron, then prime minister, boasted that Larry had “got three mice”.
Larry joined a number of feline residents stretching back to the reign of Henry VIII who lived at Downing Street.
Since 2011, for many he has become the most popular face in the street and has outlasted five different Prime Ministers.
He might be getting older, but this latest catch shows the veteran feline still has plenty of fight left in him.
He’s seen off rivals and leaders alike, proving that at Number 10, Larry is the real boss.
In February, the Foreign Office’s retired chief mouser, called Palmerston, died in Bermuda.
Palmerston was a rescue cat, and like Larry was from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
He later joined the Foreign Office during Boris Johnson‘s tenure as Foreign Secretary.
He retired in 2020 after four years of service in Whitehall and moved to the island paradise of Bermuda.
Palmerston was rumoured to have had a long–running feud with Number 10’s chief mouser Larry during his time in Westminster.
But a post on Larry’s satirical X account – which has over one million followers – read: “Farewell old friend x.”
