Humphrey at Number 10
I’ve been looking out for famous cats and recently came across the lovely story of Humphrey who was the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet from about 1988 until March 2006. He arrived during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher and continued as an employee at Number 10 with John Major and Tony Blair.
The one year old stray was named Humphrey after Sir Humphrey Appleby, the civil servant character in the TV programme ‘Yes Minister’. His main duties were catching mice and rats as due to the dilapidated quality of some of the buildings vermin was still a major problem.
In 1993 Humphrey developed a kidney illness and the Cabinet was instructed not to feed him any treats.
There were accusations of murder in 1994 when Humphrey was accused of killing some robin chick that had been nesting outside John Major’s office window. However Major declared:
“I am afraid Humphrey has been falsely accused.”
In 1995 Humphrey was reported missing feared dead. However the Chief Mouser turned up at the Royal Army Medical College. On his return Humphrey issued a statement to say:
“I have had a wonderful holiday at the Royal Army Medical College, but it is nice to be back and I am looking forward to the new parliamentary session.”
A week after the arrival of Tony Blair there were reports of problems between Cherie Blair and Humphrey. It was believed either Mrs Blair was allergic to cats or thought they were unhygienic. Much PR was done to quash any suggestion that Humphrey was being forced out but in November 1997 he went into retirement to an elderly couple in London.
Ten years later Number 10 had a new resident cat at last – Sybil moved in with Alistair Darling the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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