Happy returns for Maggie and moggie

Baroness Thatcher's return to No 10 last night was upstaged by the reappearance of a loyal servant - Humphrey the Cabinet Office cat.

The Prime Minister, John Major, last night hosted a 70th birthday party for Lady Thatcher attended by Cabinet colleagues past and present who had played a part in her years of power.

However, it was debatable whether the Iron Lady's return attracted more media interest than the discovery that Humphrey, missing for three months and presumed dead, was alive, well and back at No 10.

Suffering from a kidney infection, the seven-year-old cat had wandered a couple of miles to the Royal Army Medical College, where he was nursed back to health. Only following reports of his presumed death did RAMC staff realise who their guest was.

The return of Humphrey, named after the top civil servant in the television series Yes Minister, was recorded by no fewer than 20 photographers and three film crews.

However, while Humphrey was enjoying his return to mouse-chasing in the corridors of power, some of Lady Thatcher's former colleagues were conspicuous by their absence.

Among those who were not on the Prime Minister's guest list for the party was Norman Lamont, the former Chancellor, who has become a leading critic of Mr Major on the Tory backbench. However, Lady Thatcher has put him on the guest list for her own private birthday party at Claridges on 16 October.

And the risk of trampling on other Conservative toes will be side-stepped by a third party on 23 October, to be hosted in Washington by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation with the former US President, Ronald Reagan, on the guest list.