LONDON, UK – The feline chief mouser to the Cabinet Office has now witnessed six prime ministers come and go from 10 Downing Street, cementing his status as one of the most enduring residents of Britain’s most famous address.

Larry (19), the UK’s most photographed cat, added another political scalp to his collection this week when Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday outside 10 Downing Street. The tabby, who has called the prime minister’s official residence home since February 2011, has now outlasted David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Starmer.

The white and tabby rescue cat was adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home when Cameron was prime minister, brought in to deal with a rodent problem at Downing Street. He was believed to be about four years old at the time.

Since then, Larry has weathered Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, the chaos of partygate, Truss’s 49-day tenure, and now Starmer’s resignation following mounting pressure from within the Labour Party after a defeat in the Makerfield by-election.

His official biography on the Downing Street website states that apart from rodent control, “Larry spends his days greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality.”

The chief mouser has become a media darling, often stealing the spotlight from visiting foreign leaders. In December, he was on the doorstep to greet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In January, he sent a photographer stumbling on the red carpet after darting unexpectedly between their legs during a visit by Poland’s president.

Larry boasts an X account @Number10cat followed by more than 877 500 fans. Run by an anonymous user, the account sees Larry comment on rain showers and occasionally take swipes at politicians, notably UK Reform and the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

His first months in office inspired a book, The Larry Diaries, published in 2011.

The veteran mouser now shares the No. 10 residence with JoJo and Prince, the Starmer family cats. Prince, a Siberian, joined the household in 2024 after negotiations with Starmer’s children, who had wanted a German Shepherd.

“The only door out of our new flat is bomb proof,” Starmer told the BBC in 2024. “Therefore, getting a cat flap is proving a little bit difficult.”

Larry’s fans can relax: he is considered a permanent civil servant, which means he gets to stay at Downing Street for good. Unlike prime ministers.

The news comes just days after the death of Palmerston, a black-and-white cat who once served as mouser to the Foreign Office and retired to Bermuda in 2020.

“Farewell old friend,” Larry posted on his X account, dismissing rumours of rivalry between the pair.

Other famous political felines include Socks, who lived in the White House from 1993 to 2001 under US president Bill Clinton, and Maximus, the rescue cat who has become the social media sidekick of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

Larry marked 15 years at 10 Downing Street earlier this year, making him one of the longest-serving residents of the famous address and proving that in British politics, nine lives might just be an understatement.

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