Downing Street draws up plans for when ‘chief mouser’ Larry the cat dies

We don’t know whether he has a favourite leader, but we don’t think it was Britain’s shortest serving PM, Ms Truss.

A video caught him giving the former Tory leader the cold shoulder as she tried to introduce him to Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen.

Larry’s official role is described as ‘inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality’, as well as ‘contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house’. 

The tabby hasn’t just seen several politicians come and go, he’s had to contend with the odd fellow cat, which hasn’t always gone smoothly.

He had a long-standing feud with the Foreign Offices’s cat Palmerston, who retired in 2019.

And police had to break up a fight between Larry and then chancellor George Osbourne’s cat Freya.

The Labour Prime Minister has previously spoken of his fondness for Jojo, who the family got from a rescue centre, even joking that the cat ‘is treated with far more respect in our household than I am’.

In response to speculation around operation Larry Bridges, his parody account on X (@Number10Cat), which has almost 900,000 followers, posted: ‘Plans are being made for how to announce my passing when that sad day comes. 

‘My wish is to be stuffed and placed above a fireplace in Downing Street as a constant reminder that the inhabitants shouldn’t do anything stupid.’