Chancellor’s dogs locked up to save them from Larry the vicious cat
Philip Hammond’s two pets are not allowed near No 10 offices for fear of attack from chief mouser
AS CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer he may be the holder of one of the oldest and highest offices of state, but that has not saved Philip Hammond from being humiliated by his neighbour.
Or to be more precise, his neighbour’s cat.
Mr Hammond has had to endure the indignity of being forced to keep his dogs locked away in his No 10 Downing Street flat to protect them from the vicious cat in the offices below.
While relations between Mr Hammond and his Prime Minister appear at the moment to be good, the same cannot be said for Rex, the Chancellor’s welsh terrier, Oscar, his wire haired dachshund, and Larry, the resident cat downstairs at No 10.
It seems that Larry has taken a dislike to the two dogs, so much so that Mr Hammond confessed to friends that he has been forced to keep them inside the flat for their own safety since he moved in with his wife Susan a fortnight ago.
To ensure peace is maintained at the heart of government, Rex and Oscar are no longer able to wander around the No 10 offices below. “The dogs are not free to roam around the house. The cat is all over the place,” said one friend. “Larry fights, he is pretty feisty. The dachshund is pretty small and I am not at all sure if it really came to a punch up who would come off best.”
Larry has been better known for his violent spats with Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat – often caught on camera by the press photographers on duty outside No 10 – than for his success in catching mice.
The dogs belonging to the Hammonds, who moved in to No 10 while the Prime Minister lives in No 11, are not the first to live in Downing Street. In 2013 George Osborne announced he had purchased a bichon frise puppy, Lola. Friends of Mr Osborne confirmed that he had also had to keep control of Lola to avoid fights with Larry.
One said: “Lola lived upstairs in the kitchen of the flat and was taken down to the garden and park on a lead for walks. Larry ruled the roost downstairs, mainly asleep on the radiators in the No 10 and No 11 hallways.”
In contrast to the number of pets in Downing St, the Parliamentary authorities at the House of Commons have warned staff that pets are not allowed on the premises. As a result there is now an attempt to persuade Gavin Williamson, the Government Chief Whip, to remove his pet spider Cronus, which he keeps on his desk in the House of Commons.
Mr Williamson has refused to budge, saying when the mouse problem has been sorted out, then he will consider removing his eight-legged friend.
Sir Alan Duncan, a foreign office minister, agrees with Mr Williamson, saying his dog Noodle was “indignant” about the ban and said he might bring his pet into the Foreign Office as an act of defiance.
MPs and staff have complained that the pet ban is unfair and counterproductive, given the number of mice stalking the corridors of power.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, tweeted: “This is so UNFAIR. When does Parliament get its own cats? We’ve got loads of mice (and some rats!) after all!”
Penny Mordaunt MP, a former Tory defence minister, was so aggrieved by the situation that she brought in her pedigree cat, Titania, in the hope she would kill some mice.