There’s one bloke at Downing Street who will never have to worry about his popularity. Even PM Keir Starmer seems jealous of Larry the Cat – now we take a look at some other political moggies
Forget world leaders having pow wows – meet the cats that have meow wows!
This week, the Daily Star reported how Sir Keir Starmer reckons No.10 moggy Larry is one of the UK’s most charming diplomats. The PM says the Cabinet Office’s official chief mouser gets “more attention that the rest of us put together.”
But the famous feline isn’t the only kitty to have had one paw on power…
Prowl heritage : Cats were sacred in ancient Egypt and killing one brought the death penalty. Leaders revered them.
When Crown Prince Thutmose died, over 3000 years ago, he was buried with his mummified pet cat Ta-Miu, placed in a decorated sarcophagus.
Claw-time leader : During World War Two PM Winston Churchill kept an adopted stray black cat called Nelson at No10, which sat in on cabinet meetings.
Once, frustrated by a colleague, Winnie told him that Nelson was doing more than he was for the war effort, by acting as the premier’s ‘hot water bottle’, so saving fuel.
The US even sent Nelson supplies of catnip.
Mouse-hold name : There have been many Chief Mousers at No10 over the years, but top tabby Wilberforce served from 1973 to 1987, through the tenure of four PMs.
Margaret Thatcher was such a fan that she brought him back a tin of sardines from a trip to Moscow.
Stroke of genius : In 1999 the Monster Raving Loony Party elected a pub cat called Catmando as their joint party leader, alongside its owner Howling Laud Hope.
Catmando served until 2002 until his death in a traffic accident. The party subsequently called for cat-crossings on all main roads.
They’ll go fur: Back in the 19 th century US President Abraham Lincoln doted on his cats Tabby and Dixie.
He let Tabby eat from a golden fork at formal White House dinners and claimed that Dixie was smarter than his whole cabinet.
In the 1990s President Bill Clinton’s cat, Socks, also became a celeb.
Who are mew? New Zealand’s ex-PM Jacinda Ardern had a ginger and white cat with extra claws named Paddles.
The clever puss famously interrupted her call with US President Donald Trump, meowing loudly.
Making hiss-tory: In 1997 the residents of Talkeetna, Alaska weren’t impressed by the list of mayoral candidates, so elected an orange tabby kitten called Stubbs. He served in the role for the next 20 years.
Purr-fect partners : Former Canadian PM Stephen Harper and his wife took in 87 foster cats at their official residence during his time in office from 2006-2015.
Harper once compared his whole political fortunes to a cat’s: “Cats have nine lives…and evidently I have many lives.”
Cat’s cats : Russia ’s 18 th century empress Catherine the Great recruited rat-catching cats for her palace, now the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
Her Russian Blues became official guardians of the building and their descendants survived the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Whiskered away? Legend has it that before being guillotined in 1793, following the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette planned to escape the country by ship.
The story goes that while the queen herself failed to flee, six of her favourite Angora moggies made it safely to the US.
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