Larry, the Number 10 Cat, celebrates 10 years on the seat of power

The popular tabby has seen two prime ministers peacefully left office as well as terminated all manner of vermin with extreme prejudice.

Protecting Number 10 from rats since 2010
Image via Twitter

Larry, the Number 10 Cat, celebrates 10 years on duty at a seat of power.

Larry is Chief Mouser for Number 10 Downing Street, the official home of the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

During his tenure, Larry has become arguably the second most beloved figure in the British Government after Queen Elizabeth.

Needless to say, such is quite a coup for Larry as the Queen has been on the British throne for sixty-six years.

In an era that has been riven with upset, chaos, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, Larry the Cat has been a beloved figure to not only the British people but also people most everywhere including many who are not otherwise cat people.

Mousers have been installed at Number 10 Downing for centuries.  Number 10 Downing, as well as the surrounding government buildings, are rife with rats and cats are an environmentally safe approach to rodent control even if cats – other than Larry, that is – are limited in their ability to deal with the two-legged rodents also common to governmental offices.

Larry came from humble beginnings as he was brought into the British seat of power as a rescue from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. 

Two out of three is going to have to work, for now that is … A file photo

Larry then quickly became a beloved member of the household of Number 10 Downing Street.

For but two examples, the two previous Prime Ministers during Larry’s tenure as the official mouser both view Larry as a beloved friend as well as a trusted confidant.

Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however, picked up a pound puppy a bit over a year ago and which this shameless Prime Minister then schlepped along with him on the campaign trail shortly thereafter. 

Note: Prime Minister Boris Johnson is the one on the left.  At least Quincy Quarry believes so.

Needless to say, the puppy has further strained Larry’s already widely assumed to be rocky relationship with the current prime minister.  Even so, Larry has carried on with a very stiff British lip nonetheless as he is a loyal civil servant even if also a long-suffering one as regards this insufferable twit.

On the bright side for Larry the Cat but not so much for Dilyn the Dog, the Prime Minister’s longtime female companion, relatively recent mother of one of his children, and now his fiancée felt it necessary to state publicly that Dilyn is not slated to be “rehomed” nor has the pup worn out his welcome at Number 10 even if all of the ever-growing legions of loyal Quincy Quarry News readers know to suspect that Ms. Symonnds is perhaps protesting too much. 

Larry taking down a bounder
A file photo

In any event, this is not the first time Larry has faced travail. 

Larry was subjected to long ongoing insurrection attempts by Palmerston, the then Chief Mouser of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at nearby Whitehall. 

As could only be expected, Larry shut down Palmerston forthwith as well as often. 

Palmerston subsequently “retired” but more likely fled to sanctuary at an undisclosed location last summer after but four years on the job.

“Larry is one of my most able protégés“
A BBC image

In short, the spiritual current British Lion is a survivor even if the future of the United Kingdom is currently in doubt given the way that Boris Johnson has swived both Brexit as well as the United Kingdom to a fare-thee-well.

Source: Larry, the No 10 cat, celebrates 10 years on the seat of power

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