Twitter expressed confusion and delight this morning, after a news report in front of the British Prime Minister's front door caught a policeman knocking to let a cat inside.
BBC viewers saw the action unfold like this:
Meet Larry, the Most Famous Cat in Great Britain
Larry the Cat waits for a subservient human to open the door for him. (BBC)
But a wider lens serves to make it really clear who's running the show. Look how quickly this faithful policeman follows the cat's orders once he finally notices all the feline side eye he's getting:
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Contrary to what this footage suggests, Number 10 Downing Street does not, in fact, have an open door policy for pushy cats. The kitty in question is Larry the Cat (age 11), employed by the British government to keep the Prime Minister's house rodent-free. Larry was adopted from London's famous Battersea Dogs & Cats Home during David Cameron's time in office and has since become a minor celebrity in the UK. So much so, Battersea reported a 15 percent increase in cat adoptions in 2012, due to Larry's popularity.
The Camerons left Larry behind in 2016, when Theresa May took office, because, as Cameron explained to the House of Commons, Larry is a civil servant and was obliged to stay on at Number 10 in his capacity as Chief Mouser. Larry was probably happy with the housemate change, as he's known to prefer women over men. Interestingly, one exception to Larry's usual preferences is Barack Obama. "Funnily enough, he liked Obama," David Cameron told BBC Radio 2 in 2011. "Obama gave him a stroke and he was all right with Obama."
Sadly, there's no word at press time as to how Larry feels about Brexit.
