Larry the Cat celebrates 12 years of service at No. 10 Downing Road : NPR

Larry the Cat is seen in entrance of No. 10 Downing St. on July 5, 2022. He has now been on the job as Chief Mouser on the British prime minister’s official residence for a dozen years.

Leon Neal/Getty Photographs

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Leon Neal/Getty Photographs

Larry the Cat is seen in entrance of No. 10 Downing St. on July 5, 2022. He has now been on the job as Chief Mouser on the British prime minister’s official residence for a dozen years.

Leon Neal/Getty Photographs

In an period of shaky political management, England’s most dutiful public servant has reached an necessary milestone. Larry the Cat celebrated his twelfth yr as Chief Mouser for No. 10 Downing St., the residence and residential workplace of Britain’s prime minister, on Wednesday.

“It is has been a pleasure to serve you all for these final 12 years,” Larry the Cat tweeted from the unofficial Twitter account for the feline. “If you happen to’re ever requested in case you have a cat, however do not have the enjoyment of 1 at house, know that you could reply sure; as a result of I’m yours and all the time shall be.”

Larry’s enduring presence at No. 10 is in stark distinction to the 5 prime ministers who’ve taken workplace up to now 12 years: David Cameron, Theresa Could, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, whose time period started in October.

His size of service additionally eclipses these of former prime ministers Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli.

The Chief Mouser’s tenure started on Feb. 15, 2011, shortly after TV cameras caught footage of a rat outdoors the doorway of No. 10. The U.Okay. Cupboard, below then-Prime Minister Cameron, rescued Larry from Battersea Canines & Cats House and appointed him as Chief Mouser.

“Larry spends his days greeting visitors to the home, inspecting safety defences and testing vintage furnishings for napping high quality,” Larry’s profile on the U.Okay. authorities web site reads. “His day-to-day duties additionally embody considering an answer to the mouse occupancy of the home.”

However even Larry is not any stranger to controversy. A mouse sighting in 2011 referred to as the integrity of his work into query and a go to to the vet in 2016 advised his well being might be deteriorating.

Nevertheless, a video of the cat chasing a fox away from the No. 10 4 months in the past assuaged British residents and signaled all was properly.

As Larry cheekily tweeted again in November: “I reside right here completely, politicians are short-term residents.”