According to Ian Murray, a Scottish Labour politician, Larry the Cat is a "little shit"

NEW AND VIEWS: Ian Murray is a Scottish Labour politician who has represented the Edinburgh South constituency in the UK Parliament since 2010. He grew up in Edinburgh and is a football fan. He is an advocate for Unionism and he dislikes Brexit. He's a centrist and a resilient and experienced politician.

Larry the Cat photographed at Downing Street outside No 10. Don't know who the photographer is. Sorry. Please tell me in a comment.

After the recent landslide Labour Party victory in the general election, he went to Downing Street after the office called the Scottish Labour Party politicians to get them down to number 10 as I understand it.

In a speech at the annual dinner of CBI Scotland in Glasgow he said the following about that visit:

"We were initially like kids in a sweet shop. Because the first thing we all did, we had the election, we had the overnight counts, the 37 Scottish Labour MPs got their photographs taken in Glasgow, we darted to the airport, we got to London, just made it to London in time. Downing Street rang, and all of us who pretty much knew inevitably that the Cabinet was going to be as the shadow cabinet was with a few exceptions, walked to Downing Street really excited and all we wanted to do was, not get the chat with the Prime Minister to be appointed [Sir Kier Starmer] but was to try and get a picture with Larry the cat."

He continued:

"And without putting too fine a point on it, Larry the Cat was a little shit. So none of us got a picture with Larry the Cat. Larry the Cat is the most miserable animal you'll ever meet in your life. I'm not surprised given who he's had to live with for the last 10 years."

Of course, he was making a funny speech or trying to be funny! So we have to forgive his criticism of Larry the Cat. But clearly the criticism is incorrect because why should Larry the Cat want to cooperate with the demands of a bunch of politicians who charge into number 10 Downing Street looking for a photograph. Many cats don't even like being photographed never mind with strangers.

Ian Murray. Image by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street - Number 10 Flickr page, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150064834

He should have realised that domestic cats in general don't like the presence of entire strangers on their territory. And let's be clear, number 10 Downing Street is the territory of Larry the Cat. It is his home range including the environs. He's not going to cooperate. He no doubt scarpered and disappeared as soon as possible.

Without wishing to be too serious because this is a funny story (really), I think Ian Murray should do a little bit of judicious studying about cat behaviour at which point he wouldn't be so critical of our beloved Downing Street mouser.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.