David Cameron has bowed to public pressure and brought in a Downing Street mouser ? but dogs are more natural Tory pets
When the rat was first sighted ? scurrying across the doorstep of Number 10 as the BBC's Gary O'Donoghue did a piece to camera ? David Cameron's people were adamant. There were no plans for a Downing Street cat.
Cameron, however, is ruthless about dropping unpopular policies ? which is a polite way of saying he's not averse to making a U-turn at the first sign of popular opposition. So not having a cat has been added to a long list that includes scrapping BookStart, doing away with school sport partnerships and selling off the forests, and Larry has now arrived in Downing Street.
You could argue that his arrival marks a much-needed victory for Nick Clegg. True, Larry is a waif from a cats' home in Battersea, lending the affair a Dickensian flavour that will appeal to the Conservatives' mill-owning tendency, but Tories are natural dog owners. They are drawn to a pack animal that can be trained to do exactly what you tell it.
Thinking about it, it might be more accurate to say that dogs are natural Tories.
It would be too tame to call cats Liberals. They are naturally individualists or anarchists ? a dog would probably accuse them of being nihilists. But one thing is certain: they are not Conservatives.
So Larry will have to be on his guard, surrounded as he is by people who are not his natural allies, but it sounds as though he can look after himself. "Before coming to Battersea Larry was a stray," said today's official Downing Street briefing, "so he's used to fending for himself in the streets." It went on to say he has "a very strong predatory drive". He is clearly cut out for a career in politics.
Besides, there is a rich history of cats in Downing Street. The most famous in living memory was Humphrey, who was in residence for Margaret Thatcher's G�tterd�mmerung years and then the whole of John Major's premiership. He was bundled out of office soon after New Labour came to power, reportedly because he and Cherie Blair did not see eye to eye.
With the press threatening to cut up rough, Alastair Campbell staged a reconciliation between them for the cameras. Both participants looked distinctly uncomfortable.
There were, it has to be said, persistent rumours that the cat who was produced at this photo opportunity had subtly different markings from the real Humphrey. Some feared that, far from being retired to the country, the latter had met a sudden end and was to be found beneath some shiny new inner-city Sure Start centre. (I never found the time to compare the photographs myself.)
A cat did make a return to Downing Street towards the end of Labour's time in government, as Alistair Darling brought a cat named Sybil to live on Downing Street. Like Humphrey ? and indeed like Alistair Darling ? she was black and white.
But the history of cats in Downing Street goes back much further than Humphrey and Sybil.
When Winston Churchill needed a cat for Number 10 he went to Palmers pet shop in Camden and returned with a ginger kitten. George Palmer was thanked with a cigar and a signed copy of the PM's autobiography.
Today there may be a need for more cats across the government estate. The Palace of Westminster has been plagued with mice for years. It did not matter so much in Gladstone's time ? they would sit rapt for hours, spellbound by his oratory ? but now they run everywhere and annoy the older members by sending disrespectful text messages about them to Channel 4 News.
The road Larry has taken from Battersea to Whitehall may soon see more pilgrims.
Mervyn King Tony Cottee Documentary Celestine Babayaro BBC Foreign policy
No comments:
Post a Comment