Not the King: Meet the most spoiled "leader" in British politics
He has held the position longer than those who appointed him, even though he doesn't exactly do the job he was assigned. He doesn't get along with almost anyone, yet he remains in the most important house in Britain.
In the UK, you can change a prime minister, dissolve coalitions, lose elections, resign in the middle of a political storm, and go down in history as just another name on a long list. There is one figure that is much harder to move: Larry the cat.
Larry lives at 10 Downing Street, the most famous house in British politics, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. He arrived there on February 15, 2011, after being adopted from the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. The official reason was innocent: there was a rodent problem at Downing Street, and someone decided it was time to bring in a professional. Or at least a cat that looked like a professional.
His title sounds like a joke that accidentally made it into a government document, but it is completely real: Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. According to the official UK government website, Larry is also the first cat at 10 Downing Street to receive this title officially.
And since then, he has simply stayed. David Cameron came and went; Theresa May came and went; Boris Johnson came and went; Liz Truss passed through for about the time it takes a cat to decide whether to go inside or stay outside; Rishi Sunak came and went; Keir Starmer managed to resign in the last month; and Andy Burnham became the new Prime Minister. And Larry? Still there. At this point, it is unclear whether he lives in the Prime Minister's house, or if the Prime Ministers are simply given permission to live in Larry's house.
This is what made him an icon. In British democracy, which has become accustomed to rapid changes in leadership in recent years, Larry is the most stable symbol in the kingdom. He does not give speeches in Parliament, does not give interviews to the BBC, does not present an economic plan, and yet manages to receive more public affection than very many politicians who actually tried.
Part of the charm is that Larry acts as if the whole thing — governments, kings, foreign leaders, photographers, security guards, and reporters — is just background noise on his way to his next nap. The official Downing Street website describes his daily routine as including receiving guests, checking security systems, testing the quality of antique furniture for a nap, and also "thinking about a solution to the mouse problem," a task that, according to the description, is still in the tactical planning stage. In other words, even the British government knows how to laugh at the fact that he is not exactly the employee of the month.
But the cat residing at the heart of power also has rivals. The most famous of them was Palmerston, the cat of the British Foreign Office, who sat right across the street. Palmerston arrived in 2016, received his own title as the Foreign Office's Chief Mouser, and for several years became Larry's furry political rival. The two were even involved in several public confrontations, because apparently, even for cats in Whitehall, there is no such thing as clear boundaries of authority.
Larry also did not always get along with the dogs that prime ministers brought with them to Downing Street. But like any truly old governing figure, he saw them leave in the end, too. The dogs change, the humans change, and the cat remains on the steps, as if waiting for another coalition crisis to end while he slowly stretches.
His popularity has long since crossed the borders of the UK. Photographers waiting outside Downing Street know that sometimes Larry provides the best frame of the day. He has appeared next to leaders, interrupted broadcasts, positioned himself next to the famous door, and in a way, has become an unofficial indicator: if Larry comes out, something interesting is probably happening. If not, at least we got a cat.
And if all that is not enough, there is even a beetle named after him. In 2021, a new species called Caccothryptus larryi was described, named after Larry, the cat from 10 Downing Street. Not every politician gets a biological species named after them. Larry does.
In the end, Larry's story works because he takes the most serious place in the UK and introduces something simple, indifferent, and funny into it. Faced with tense politics, people love to see a creature that promises nothing, explains nothing, apologizes for nothing, and only asks for the door to be opened for him.
So who is the real ruler of the UK? Officially, there is a king and there is a prime minister. In practice, if you ask the internet, it is very possible that the answer is sitting on the steps of 10 Downing Street, cleaning its whiskers, and waiting for someone in the government to finally understand who is really the owner of the house.
