Is 'Chief Mouser' Larry Threatened By New Resident At 10 Downing Street?

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced a new resident to 10 Downing Street who could reel in a serious shake-up in the country's political climate. Prince, a fluffy white Siberian kitten, is believed to pose a competition to Larry, the long-standing Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, who has been serving the nation since 2011, unchallenged. Despite the speculations, Larry the Cat remains confident that he is irreplacable as the most powerful feline in all of Britain. 

In a post on X, Larry issued a pithy and powerful response to rumours stating that Prince Starmer could take his place. The reponse came as a sigh of relief to his supporters who have been loyal to him than to the previous five British Prime Ministers combined.

My position as best looking cat on Downing Street remains unchallenged https://t.co/UTKM157c3P

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) September 22, 2024

A 'Cat'walk Down Larry's Distinguished Career

Being one of the more relatively permanent residents of 10 Downing Street, Larry's official duties are stated as ''greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences, and testing antique furniture for napping quality,'' all of which he has carried out with utmost allegiance to the British parliament.

Larry has become increasingly comfortable in his position since his recruitment in 2011 by the then Prime Minister David Cameron. He was adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home by the staff of 10 Downing. In his free days, not that he has many, Larry is often seen posing for pictures with the media and even endorsing the occasional Prime Ministerial candidate, or more often than not, denouncing them.

Cameron made it clear in his final Prime Minister's Questions in 2016 that Larry is an official and civil servant to the Parliament and not personal property. He does not, thus, leave the house with a change of premiership, and is a permanent member of the house.

Larry for PM

Most recently, he has been running his very own campaign, namely ''Larry for Prime Minister'', and not going to lie, he has a very fair chance. It is believed that the campaign was launched to finally get rid of one of his arch nemesis, Nova the Labrador, with whom he has reportedly had quite a few ''heated exchanges''.

Sunak household labrador and the 10 Downing Street cat have had their differences since day 1, but Larry has always come out on top.

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A post shared by Larry - Chief Mouser of the Cabinet (@larrythecatforpm)

The 17-year-old Chief Mouser has seen the tenure of five conservative prime ministers, namely David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. He is now about to work with his first PM from the Labour Party. There is no doubt about it, the cat possesses one of the qualities that most of the politicians of our time lack, endurance and a penchant for survival. Certainly, the experience he obtained as a stray cat in the first four years of his life led him to success in the bureaucratic realm.

A recent poll from Ipsos has found that Larry has a higher favorability than any past or possible future prime minister. It reported that 44% of British residents have a favourable opinion of Larry, compared to Rishi Sunak with 22% and Keir Starmer with 34%. Evidently, it does not matter to Larry who the next resident of 10 Downing may be, his status is definitely secure.

The dark side

No successful man- or cat - is without his flaws. Though Larry is the most distinguished tabby the political world has ever known, he does have somewhat of a violent streak. 

Nova is not the first animal with whom Larry has had standoffs. He had long-standing strife with Palmerston, the Foreign office's cat which even led to a visit to the vet in 2016. Being the sigma that he is, however, Larry forced Palmerston into early retirement after several rounds of deadlocks.

He has also had violent encounters with other animals, including a fox roaming outside 10 Downing late at night, and a seemingly innocent pigeon he brought back to the house cold.

Apart from animals, Larry seems to have started feuds with certain politicians as well. For example, last year, he rejected the affections of Liz Truss on camera and is also reported to have caused diplomatic tensions when Donald Trump visited Theresa May at the house. He crawled under Trump's super expensive armoured Cadillac and refused to leave, raising questions over his intentions to sabotage diplomatic relations between the two countries.

One thing is clear though, 10 Downing Street is Larry's house guys, the Prime Ministers are just visiting guests. 

Views expressed by the author are their own