The Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is a known animal lover and loves cats. He currently has two cats, I believe, living in his home within the Palace of Westminster A.K.A. Houses Of Parliament.
He lives just behind Big Ben in very beautiful accommodation; quite extensive and I believe that his Maine Coon cat 'Attlee' lives there with him. And he has adopted a black stray cat who wanted to be taken in and who he has named 'Clem'. Both of these names come from the former Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
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| Attlee as an adult Maine Coon who lives with the Speaker in his house within the estate. Photo: Richard Wheeler PA. |
He is a very popular Commons Speaker and was re-elected to the post after the general election. There appears to have been no issues about his re-election. And he says that there should be "cats across the House." The idea is to take care of the rodent population and provide therapy to stressed politicians! 💕
The Palace of Westminster is a very large estate adjacent to the Thames River and is in bad condition requiring constant repair and a major upgrade which would cost billions of pounds. The reason why I am saying that is because you can see that there is a great possibility of there being mice and rats on the estate which is the case.
And Attlee, his Maine Coon cat, is sometimes called upon to deal with mice. MPs come up to him and ask if they can borrow Attlee for a while to get rid of mice in their office. That kind of thing.
And Sir Lindsay Hoyle would also like to see a "Bring Your Pet Day" in Parliament. I think he would like to see members of Parliament bringing their pets to the establishment.
Sir Lindsay has a number of pets including a tortoise named Maggie and a parrot named Boris. These are named after Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson, two more former prime ministers.
There was a study about the possibility of employing cats to keep down the rodent population on the estate. The conclusion appears to be that the estate is too big and that there would have to be too many cats in order to make it work which would be unmanageable.
His brown tabby Maine Coon cat also helps to keep the peace and keep people calm. Cats can do that for you. He is a therapy cat as well as the chief mouser at Parliament. He goes out to visit people to make them smile and be happier.
He said that "We've had the odd MP ring up and say, including the Clerk of the House, 'there is a mouse in my office, can we borrow Attlee?'"
His cat loves Dreamies which is a dry cat food and a particularly tasty one. The reason why he wants cats across the house, as mentioned, is because "There's nothing better than seeing a cat. Anybody who likes cats are nice people."
He's right. A slight problem is that some people don't like cats or some are frightened of cats but I would thoroughly agree with him. I think more cats at Parliament would be beneficial. And a dog or two would help to of course but there would have to be some management because you don't want dogs chasing cats! The issue is about managing the cats. Feeding them and providing toilet facilities etc.
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| Sir Lindsay Hoyle soon after adopting his new Maine Coon kitten Attlee. They touch noses in a friendly greeting |
When he was interviewed for the article to which I'm referring and which is published on the Independent newspaper online he said that his tortoise, Maggie, was on the terrace. That is the area outside the Houses of Parliament in between the building and the Thames. It's a very pleasant area where they sometimes have marquees for social gatherings I believe.
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