Statesmanlike, he mourns the Queen and expresses his condolences to the victims of attacks and natural disasters. He routinely points out things with a good cause, such as the recently Mental Health Day. He positions himself sharply on Twitter in political debates (about fracking he wrote: “We’ve gotten to the point where the government is trying to convince you that earthquakes are okay”). Undaunted, he gives his political opponents clear feedback (“Liz Truss asked me why I’m more popular than her. I pointed out that wasps are more popular than her”). He is also aware of the relevance of body language in political communication, as he recently demonstrated: when Prime Minister Truss walked past him in front of her London office at 10 Downing Street, Larry turned his backside to her, laden with symbols. And with all this, he never loses sight of the special interests of his own minority and reminds them of this every Saturday with a cat video (“Happy Caturday”).
Yes, The Right Honorable Larry is a cat. But that’s not what sets him apart from the rest of Britain’s political staff. It’s not (exclusively) all of the qualities listed at the beginning. Nor is it his many years of experience in office as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Officeas the official Mouse Catcher of Downing Street, which he has held since 2011, longer than some human residents have held theirs.
It is his concrete political action: like a video from Sky News shows, the obese tomcat now put a much larger fox to flight in Downing Street. At least one performing in office in the UK.
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