Downing Street cat makes first kills

Larry the Downing Street cat has made his first kills since being brought in to deal with rats at Number 10, David Cameron revealed today.

But the tabby tomcat has not been catching rats, but mice, said the Prime Minister.

Mr Cameron revealed that his historic London townhouse is infested with mice, and that he has even spotted one in the flat he occupies with wife Samantha and their children above 11 Downing Street.

"I'm a big Larry fan," the PM told ITV1's This Morning. "We have got big mouse infestation in Downing Street and Larry has caught some mice.

"I actually took a picture of one in my flat on my mobile phone, because it was looking at me."

Mr Cameron said he was not scared of mice, but added: "Rats I'm frightened of, but I haven't seen any of those."

Larry was recruited from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in February after a series of sightings of rats outside the Prime Minister's official residence.

He almost upstaged Mr Cameron at an event in Downing Street yesterday, prowling outside the famous black front door as photographers prepared to take pictures of the PM. He was eventually sent back inside with a gentle tap on the backside from a the boot of a policeman guarding Number 10.

Mr Cameron today joked: "Someone showed me the pictures of that, but I am reliably informed that it was a nudge, not anything firmer."

Larry is the latest in a long line of official mousers at Downing Street, including stalwart ratter Humphrey, who served under Margaret Thatcher and John Major but was retired in 1997, shortly after Tony Blair's arrival.

Humphrey was succeeded for a short period in 2007 by Sybil, the pet of then chancellor Alistair Darling, but the renowned mouser failed to settle and returned to Scotland.