It seems that Larry the Cat’s position at 10 Downing Street is being threatened by the Starmers’ family cat’s impending arrival in the flat at 10 Downing Street. The Prime Minister has an apartment above his office and that’s where the family will live including the family cat. I’m told in The Sunday Times that Lady Starmer is concerned “about how the family cat, JoJo, will settle alongside Larry, who rules the roost in Downing Street.”
One Times journalist said that Larry should be got rid of now that a new government is in place. Completely wrong of course. I think he was joking but he complained that Larry pisses on the floor and did other bad things but I don’t know if there is any evidence to support that. Perhaps Larry might be pensioned off in the interests of JoJo’s welfare? Wait and see.
At this time we don’t have a publically available photo of JoJo. Sorry.
JoJo is a male name and Larry obviously is a male cat. Male cats are particularly territorial. I don’t know if JoJo is a full-time indoor cat. If he is he might be okay in an apartment at Number 10 but it’s far from ideal. It’ll be a home which is probably considerably smaller than the Starmers’ home in Kentish Town, north London.
And we know that domestic cats are very territorial. They are more wedded to their home range then they are to their caregivers sometimes. The last thing they want to do is move. It will be very tricky for Lady Starmer to manage JoJo satisfactorily. And in addition, she has her children to think about. They have one boy and one girl, 16 and 13 years of age respectively. The daughter has said that she won’t move into the flat above the Downing Street offices.
So, the big question in the world of cats is how well JoJo will integrate into life at 10 Downing Street. A noisy place. A place full of people and comings and goings. A place from which you do not want a cat to escape because right outside the front door and up the road a little distance is central London traffic. It’s Whitehall, full of traffic and noise and disturbance. Not a place for a domestic cat although Larry survived quite nicely.
Larry by the way is now an elderly 17-year-old. He’s a rescue cat from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Larry is the most stable aspect of British government. He looked after by civil servants working at Number 10.
Larry had to share his home with Rishi Sunak’s Labrador retriever Nova. That worked out okay as far as I am aware.
Other experts have questioned whether JoJo will be able to settle. Nicky Trevorrow from Cats Protection told the Daily Mail:
“It’s natural for cats to feel threatened when a new cat comes along, as they’ll be protective of their territory and all the perks that come with it – like food, shelter and warmth. That’s why it’s important to take it really slowly, keep them in separate areas and get them used to each other’s scent before they actually see each other. When they’re familiar with another cat’s smell, it’ll make the face-to-face introduction much easier.”
I’m told that Larry is not a great mouser but perhaps there aren’t that many mice at Number 10 anyway. He has greeted many dignitaries and many leaders of the free world including Donald Trump when he was president. At that time he crawled under Don Trump’s bullet-proof limousine which is pretty typical of a domestic cat.
RELATED: Who pays for the 10 Downing Street cat, Larry?
Is it time to pension off Larry as suggested by Tamara in her comment?
Larry is 17 years old and a few years ago a fox was stalking him. If the fox hadn’t been weak and emaciated I think he would have gotten poor Larry for dinner. You can see the video of the encounter on youtube. It would be a horrible ending if a fox caught and ate Larry, don’t you think Michael.
I would hate to see Larry go but at his age he deserves to be a inside kitty and retire in the country like Palmerston did.
Yes, not a bad thought. He could be retired now and JoJo could be the top cat.