How old is Larry the Cat? Andy Burnham to meet Downing Street feline
Larry has seen the back of plenty of feline, mice and foxes in Downing Street and has also now outlasted half a dozen prime ministers
Amid a turbulent time in British politics, with five prime ministers departing in a decade, if there has been one consistency in Downing Street then it is Larry, the chief mouser to the Cabinet.
Listen to this article
Despite questions about his age and possible retirement, the 19-year-old feline is set to remain in post for his sixth prime minister once Sir Keir Starmer vacates No 10.
Andy Burnham is now set to take over in Downing Street, and will meet Larry on Monday after Sir Keir previously announced that he is departing.
Larry came from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home where he was rescued as a stray and given the historic role as he was noted for being particularly good at keeping mice away.
He has been a much-loved fixture of Downing Street over the years, sharing paws with Barack Obama and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, chasing off a fox, and having a rivalry with foreign office cat Palmerston, who died in February.
Larry was hired in 2011 under David Cameron, who turned out to be his longest-serving owner - the Tory lasting until 2016 when he resigned after Brexit.
Read also: Andy Burnham sworn in as an MP after Keir Starmer’s resignation
Sir Keir's departure means that Larry will at last have No 10 to himself once more as the prime minister had disrupted the equilibrium by buying a kitten called Prince.
Scottish secretary Ian Murray was not a fan of Larry, calling the cat uncooperative when he tried to arrange a picture with it and called the feline a "little s***".
Speaking at the CBI Scotland annual dinner in Glasgow, he joked that Larry was "the most miserable animal you’ll ever meet" and humorously blamed the last decade of Tory prime ministers for it.
How old is Larry the Cat?
Larry was born in January 2007, making him 19-years-old.
The average age for a cat in the UK is 11.7 years-old, according to Cats Protection.
What other Downing Street cats have there been?
There have been other cats to have been named the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet.
Here is the full list:
- Rufus - 1924-1924
- Ramsay - 1929-1930
- Peter - 1929-1946
- Bob - 1937-1943
- Nelson - 1940-1944
- Peter II - 1946-1947
- Peter III - 1947-1964
- Peta - 1964-1976
- Wilberforce - 1973-1987
- Humphrey - 1989-1997
- Sybil - 2007-2008
- Larry - 2011-present
- Freya - 2012-2014