Larry the Downing Street cat

[curlyblonde]

I don’t have a cat so this is a genuine question. Apparently Larry the Downing St cat is about to ‘welcome’ his 7th Prime Minister since he came to Downing St 15 years ago. Will this be traumatic for him? I have no idea who actually feeds/looks after Larry, presumably it’s a government employee rather than the actual Prime Minister but given that civil servants will also rotate through Downing St what will be the impact of the constant change of ‘owners’ on Larry? Most cats only have one owner for their entire lives so is this likely to be upsetting for him or are cats ultimately more attached to places than people?

I doubt he will be bothered. He's still in his own territory I imagine he gets fed and looked after very well.

Cats don't give a shit about anyone but themselves.

There are more permanent staff there than a Prime Minister - they're the ones who take care of the true boss, Larry.

Core staff are permanent. Cleaners, security, civil servants, operational staff…there are 100s of them and they don’t change with a new PM.

Larry knows he's the boss. He's aware of some humans around, some of which feed him and others open the door for him. He's seen off Palmerston, as long as no 11 don't get another cat he'll be grand.

If he didn't like it he'd clear off, I'm sure he is well looked after by permanent staff.

He’s been too well cared for by staff before. They had to cut back on treats as he was getting chonky. He has a main caregiver apparently (can’t remember who), since he was adopted as a mouser vs a regular domestic cat his temperament is likely to be one where he’s chill with lots of people coming and going.

Hi from the USA, long live Larry, he's 19!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_(cat)

I suspect that Andy Burnham is just worried that Larry will pop his clogs on his shift. Bit like the 'london Bridge' scenario for the late queen - I wonder what has been planned for Larry.

Nothing has changed for Larry. Same home, same territory, same police officer to open the door for him, same bunch of people inside, same bunch of clattering photographers outside, same sleeping places... The only thing that's changed is that some of the hoomans have gone, to be replaced by others, and he's used to that. He will be far more bonded to the housekeeping staff and whoever feeds him than to any Prime Minister.

As to the future - a splendid bronze statue methinks.

@Cnon do Americans know about Larry? Do they think we're all weird for having such respect for a manky and vicious old moggy?

Belgium have one too. His social media made some snarky comments during the World cup re the Trump intervention.

I love Larry. Apparently the staff at no 10 run a kitty (no pun intended) for his food etc.

@murasaki god, cats just can't be trusted online can they!

Definitely not! I was delighted to see another poliicial cat having his say.

I don't think Americans would judge. Given this.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stubbs_(cat)

Downing Street has permanent staff. They are the ones who look after Larry and feed/water him.

The Prime Minister of the day is a temp, as is his Chancellor, as are any visiting cabinet ministers or MPs. Larry is permanent. He's been there longer than any of them that I can think of. He's definitely the boss.

Larry rocks. Go Larry!! 😎 What a cool dude he is. 😎

Manky and Vicious 😱
How dare you say that about this national treasure.
He is a beautiful boy and apparently doesn't bother anyone much.

Manky and vicious!!! How dare anyone say that about the lovely Larry. He is the coolest of cool dudes. 😎😎

DH and I spent the morning watching the BBC news special yesterday (both teachers on first day of summer holidays) and because there was only really half an hour of action (at best) during the whole 3.5hr broadcast, we quickly became far more interested in what was going on with Larry.

At times he appeared to wait up to anything as long as 25 minutes to be let in via the front door, and one occasion an unseen hand let him in and then out again within less than three minutes. This was tickling us greatly and led us to speculate on whether it might be prudent for Andy Burnham to invest in a cat flap.

At one point- between Keir Starmer departing and Andy Burnham arriving- Larry gave up on waiting and went and sprawled out in the sunshine on the pavement a little way up from the front door and was posing for a photographer who seemed to be having a whale of a time capturing some shots of him rolling about in the dust and exposing his belly to the daylight.

Frankly it was all much more entertaining to watch Larry than to concentrate on anything that the humans were doing on screen!

@LambriniBobInIsleworthISeesYa apparently he has a cat flap round the back.
But being a cat.....he doesn't use it !

One of the photographers who spends a lot of time camped outside has taken on the job of going up and knocking on the door so Larry can be let in. I saw a very entertaining little feature about it.

Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker of the House of Commons) has two cats, Clem and Attlee, but they're rather more pampered than Larry (he also has Boris the parrot and Maggie the tortoise).

Yes, they can't have one in the front door apparently for security reasons as it's a super reinforced special door. But he eschews the cat flap, as is his right, and demands someone let him in and out.

Awww. Apparently Dave wanted to take Larry with him but wasn’t allowed.

Apparently Burnham has a dog. No idea if dog is moving into No 10 or not but if so I hope that doesn’t upskittle Larry.

Manky and vicious?

Are you on glue?