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.

Larry, Downing Street's cat was selected because he was calm and unbothered when picked

There are a couple of news items in the press today about Larry, Downing Street's resident mouser to 5 prime ministers. Interesting to me, is how he was selected above four other candidates at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. 

Larry, Downing Street's cat was selected because he was calm and unbothered when picked. Image by MikeB at PoC.

He was selected by a guy called David. We know this because a woman, Helen, wrote into Times Radio to mention it. She'd met David while queueing to see Queen Elizabeth lying in state at the Palace of Westminster.

And David told Helen that Larry was chosen because he was calm and unfazed about whether he was picked or not. The other four candidates were more needy. They meowed and wanted attention. David was and perhaps still is a Downing Street staff worker and he was selected to choose the resident cat. He is an Australian incidentally.

It seems that the criteria for being a Downing Street cat is that they should be unruffled by all the comings and goings that inevitably occur at the center of UK government. So, it seems to me that the right criteria was used. 

Larry should be in the background doing his bit and keeping the staffers company and adding a bit of 'soul' to this large building which appears to be much smaller than it actually is.

Health

There is a health story about Larry as well. There were concerns about his health because there were claims that he was poorly after he received treatment for cysts following a trip to the veterinarian. We are not told where these cysts were. I hope they were not on his kidneys because that would be a very serious illness.

He's now been declared to be in good health after being given antibiotics (which indicates the disease was not serious). 

A Downing Street source told The Sun:

"Larry saw the vet that last month for a routine checkup. He remains in Downing Street and is feline well!"

Larry is between 15-16 years old at the time of this post. A good age with some mileage left I should think. 

Calm Larry the Cat at No 10 Downing Street had been neutered just before selection for his role

It has been suggested that the celebrity Downing Street cat, Larry, who has kept five Prime Minister's company at the offices and removed all signs of mice from the building, was selected because he was very calm at the time when he was chosen at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and the reason why he was calm was because he had been neutered the day before.

Government Chief Mouser Larry the Cat questioned over Partygate. Screenshot.

The suggestion is that just by chance Larry and thanks to castration he was selected from a group of five.

I find this implausible to be honest. Although we know that the neutering of male cats makes them calmer. In fact, I did some work on how castration of men changes their character.

I wanted to get into the heads of neutered male cats and tried to do this by researching how the operation affects humans. It might interest you. It's certainly chills out men and that's why male cats become calmer and more manageable.

Effects of Castrating a Cat (and a man)

And it is this character trait which convinced David, who was an Australian staff member at Battersea at the time. He was chosen to choose the best cat for No 10 Downing Street.

He visited Battersea on January 29. He saw five cats, Larry (the successful one), Spencer, Crockett, Trixie and Bart. Larry was chosen "for having the perfect personality". He was less needy than the other cats. This indicated to David that he would be able to cope with the activities at 10 Downing Street as it is full of 400 people occupying 100 rooms.

Number 10 Downing Street is a bit like a Tardis. It looks quite compact from the outside but when you're inside it is a complicated network of corridors and rooms. I have been there.

The Times newspaper tracked down the other cats, the ones that didn't make it to No 10. Spencer is still alive. That's worth stating because Larry looks quite old now. He was adopted in January 2011 to be the working cat of No 10.

Spencer's owners, said: "I don't think Downing Street would have agreed with him". They mean that Spencer would not have got along very well at the Prime Minister's offices.

Realistically, I don't think many cats would. It's just too active. Too much most noise, kerfuffle and commotion to be ideal for a domestic cat.

Crockett apparently would have been a decent mouser. He was rehomed in Forest Hill, south-east London. He died at the age of eight or nine.

Bart could not be traced. Trixie spent her life in Hackney, East London and at a family home in Hampshire before she was euthanised due to ill health in 2015.

Trixie was owned by Charlie, a retired administrative worker. He said that Trixie was a loving cat but shy. She might have found life difficult at No 10 Downing Street.

As for Larry's mousing skills, they appear to have waned somewhat because of his advancing age. But they said: "Having said this, no mice have been spotted in Downing Street for years."

Does Boris Johnson like Larry the Cat or any cat?

On this page there is a picture of Larry the Cat on Boris Johnson's desk at Number 10 Downing Street. He has a slightly strained smile. That's the first clue as to whether he likes cats. Secondly, nobody has tried to answer the question as to whether he likes or hates cats. And thirdly we know that he has adopted a dog. I suspect that his wife is the prime motivator in that adoption. He could have adopted a cat and if he had it would have been a full-time indoor cat living in his apartment above number 11 Downing Street. This is quite a big apartment so it wouldn't have been that bad a life.

Larry the Cat and Johnson in his office. Photo: Unkown No 10 adviser I suspect.

Perhaps the key point in answering the question is this: if he did like cats, we would all know about it. Somebody would have stated that on the Internet by now. But everything to do with Johnson and animals on the Internet is about Johnson and his dog; no mention of cats whatsoever.

CLICK FOR PAGES ON CAT CELEBRITIES

I'm going to have to guess but I think I can guess quite accurately. My distinct impression is that Boris Johnson is ambivalent about cats. He neither like them or dislikes them. I think that he has a sensitivity towards animals which would predispose him to liking all animals including cats.

On a straight choice between living with a dog or a cat he would choose the former. There is also the usual background issue which is that men normally favour dogs and women normally favour cats. You have to throw that well-known factor into the pot when deciding about Boris Johnson's attitude towards felines.

When he was at the Foreign Office he had to contend with Palmerston. Palmerston was the office cat at the Foreign Office although he's been retired because of stress partly brought on because of being persecuted by Larry! The Foreign Office is just adjacent to number 10 Downing Street. I wonder how Boris Johnson got on with Palmerston? I don't expect that he saw him that often because it is an enormous building.