My Mid-Winter break is over, so the staff at Some Geek Told Me have purchased new handcuffs and chained me to my desk, with the intent of releasing me around Christmas time. Aren’t they kind and thoughtful?

Since I’m back in my writer’s chair, what insightful content will I discuss? World Peace? Cure for cancer? New climate change initiatives? New element discovered on the Periodic Table? Even though they would be great, it’s no to all of them.

In today’s rant, I want to talk about a cat named Larry. He’s arguably one of the most photographed cats on the planet. I find it interesting that his name is Larry, because that’s a pretty boss move! But there’s a small detail I need to share about Larry. To explain this, I’ll need to talk about the recent general election in the United Kingdom. These topics might seem unrelated, but trust me, they’re connected!

British politics is similar to New Zealand politics, with the fact there are many different parties in parliament, which can give rise to coalition governments, just like our current one.

Last Thursday, after being in power for 14 years, Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party suffered its worst defeat ever. Out of a possible 650 parliamentary seats, they only won 121 seats; losing 252 Members of Parliament. It was an armageddon level event for the Tories.¹

Their rivals, the Labour Party, achieved a majority of 326 seats in the House of Commons, winning 412 seats, and gaining 214 new seats. Their leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has now become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and one of the perks of being the British Prime Minister is living at the famous address, 10 Downing Street.

---

---

We can now bring it back to Larry because his residence is also at 10 Downing Street. Larry’s official title is Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an inaugural title that was given to him; however other cats have been employed by the British government, going back to the 16th century with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, as well as the first official mouser in 1929.

Larry is a tabby cat, born a stray around 2007; making him 17 years old. He was adopted in 2011 from an animal rescue centre, by Dowling St staff, for his hunting and mousing skills. Because of this, Larry does not belong to the UK Prime Minister, since he’s a civil servant. To put this in context, when a Prime Minister needs to leave 10 Downing Street, they can’t take Larry with them.

This has led to Larry living with, and outlasting five prime ministers; David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and now Rishi Sunak. His new housemate is, of course, Sir Keir Starmer.

---

---

If Larry is a civil servant, what are his responsibilities?

According to The Downing Street website, his responsibilities include:

• Greeting guests to the house.
• Inspecting security defences.
• Testing antique furniture for napping quality.
• Contemplating solutions to the mouse occupancy of the house.

The employment of Larry is not paid for through taxpayers’ money, but rather funded voluntarily by members of Downing St staff.

---

---

Over the years, Larry has built a reputation as a great mouser, with several confirmed kills; but it hasn’t gone all to plan.

• In 2011, the increasing mice population at Downing St, drove Prime Minister David Cameron to throw a fork at one.
• Larry had earned the moniker, Lazy Larry, from the media.
• In 2012, Larry was spending more time sleeping, than hunting for mice, as well as hanging out with a female cat named Maisie.
• Displeased his Larry’s work, an extra Chief Mouser, named Freya was employed in 2012, at 11 Downing St.

Larry is a busy and famous cat, which has created some tension with other animals. Firstly, there was Freya, who moved in next door, and they tolerated each other. In 2014, Freya moved away, forcing Larry to go back to being the sole Chief Mouser.

In 2020, Larry stalked and attacked a pigeon, but for unknown reasons, the bird escaped unharmed.

In 2022, Larry confronted a fox outside 10 Downing and chased it away.

---

---

Sir Keir Starmer has brought his family cat, JoJo to 10 Downing St, so the world will have to wait and see what happens with Larry, and his new housemate.

I must mention Larry’s rivalry with Palmerston. As the Chief Mouser for the Foreign Office, Palmerston and Larry were frenemies who had fought each other numerous times. In 2016, Palmerston even entered 10 Downing Street and had to be evicted by staff.

However, one of their best/worst fights was outside 10 Downing St’s door, which was recorded by Steve Beck, a political photographer. The brutal fight resulted in Larry losing his collar, and Palmerston receiving a badly cut ear and several deep scratches.

---

---

Larry has become a beloved icon to the British public, having photobombed politicians, paraded in front of the world’s media, and forced police officers to help him inside his home. Larry also has an unofficial social media accounts on Twitter and Mastodon.

Larry is a hard-working cat that faces daily pressure from being Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office. I mean, not every cat could handle the responsibilities. Keep it up Larry, you’re amazing!

That’s it for me. Congratulations to the UK Labour Party, but also Ensemble and New Popular Front, from the French election. I was expecting the former, but the latter was a pleasant shock.

Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch the Copa América and Euro Football Championships semi-finals, and I’ll see you next week.

---

¹ I know you can’t tell, but I haven’t stopped smiling over this.