Even more competition for the popular cat Larry in Downing Street: The children of the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are getting a cat. He had “a long summer of negotiations” about a dog, Starmer told the BBC on his 62nd birthday. “We are now getting a kitten instead of a dog.” Starmer’s children had originally wanted a German shepherd, as the head of the social democratic Labour Party had said during the election campaign.
“It’s a Siberian kitten, my daughter is picking it up today,” said Starmer. The family – the Prime Minister and his wife Victoria have two teenagers – had already brought their own cat, Jojo, with them when they moved into Downing Street. Larry is not bothered by the newcomer, said Starmer.
What to do with the cat flap?
The only problem was the high security measures for the government headquarters, “Number Ten.” “We have the problem, and it’s the same for Jojo the cat, that the only door to our new apartment is bombproof. Installing a cat flap is a bit difficult,” the Prime Minister reported. “But our children have convinced us that the problem is no greater with two cats than with one. So we’re getting this kitten.”
Starmer’s predecessors often had dogs: Rishi Sunak’s Labrador is called Nova, Boris Johnson brought his four-legged friend Dilyn with him.
Larry the cat has lived in Downing Street for more than 13.5 years – longer than most British prime ministers – and is considered the secret ruler of the seat of government. As “Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office”, he even holds a position that is listed on the British government’s official website.
Starmer is the sixth Prime Minister to live with Larry. David Cameron brought the cat to the government in 2011 to solve the rat problem. But the animal mainly whizzes away the time for waiting journalists, for example by chasing pigeons. Given Larry’s advanced age – he is around 17 years old – the government is reportedly already preparing how it will one day tell the population that the popular cat is dead.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240902-930-221067/1
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
