Well this is about as political as we’re going to get round here…so here goes…
Humphrey the Downing Street cat was retired in 1997, after years of living in the Cabinet Office and Downing Street areas. His departure came shortly after Tony Blair’s arrival as prime minister. A bird table was then put into No 10’s garden.
Now, slinking down the corridors of power comes ‘Sybil’. Named after Basil Fawlty’s wife in the classic 1970s sitcom, Sybil lives in the flat above No 10 with the chancellor during the week. Gordon Brown and his wife occupy the bigger flat at Number 11, which is the traditional home of the chancellor.
‘Sybil’ is famed for her nocturnal ramblings and can make the dourest of Labour politicians go weak at the knees. The new occupant at No 10 belongs to Alastair Darling.
Here’s an update on the history of the Offical Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
| Name | Began tenure | Ended tenure | Prime Minister(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treasury Bill | 1924 | 1924 | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Peter | 1929 | 1946 | Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee |
| Munich Mouser | 1940 | 1943 | Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill |
| Nelson | 1940 | 1940 | Winston Churchill |
| Peter | 1941 | 1946 | Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee |
| Peter II | 1946 | 1946 | Clement Attlee |
| Peter III | 1946 | 1964 | Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home |
| Peta | 1964 | 1976 | Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath |
| Wilberforce | 1973 | 1988 | Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher |
| Humphrey | 1989 | 1997 | Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair |
| Sybil | 2007 | 2009 | Gordon Brown |
| Freya | 2012 | 2014 | David Cameron |
| Larry | 2011 | current | David Cameron, Theresa May |