Is Starmer about to purge Larry the Cat?
The new PM Keir Starmer has evaded analysis of where precisely he is coming from. A Blairite?, a Wilsonite? or something else. We may find out.
There are some things we do know about Starmer. He is an Arsenal season ticket holder, his father was a toolmaker and his mother a nurse and he used to be the DPP. He and certainly the factionalists around him like a good purge.
With this last point in mind the question must be asked is Larry the Cat set to be purged from Downing St?
Keir Starmer and family do have a cat called JoJo. In an interview in April he noted that his children were more friendly to the cat than they were to him. A familiar syndrome hardly unique to the Labour leader and PM.
Tom Baldwin’s biography of Starmer makes reference to him extracting JoJo from a fight in the back garden and getting a scratch on his thumb as a result.
Reports have suggested that Starmer intends to move JoJo from Kentish Town to Downing St.
Those familiar with cats will know the type, always up for an encounter with other cats and often provoking it. Will Starmer enforce peaceful co-existence between Larry and JoJo or will Larry be expelled?
Update
Victoria Starmer is quoted in the Sunday Times (7th July) as being concerned how Larry and JoJo will get along. Is it time for Sir Keir to appoint a Minister for Cat Conciliation?
Starmer is going to be in trouble whatever happens. Larry is an old boy now, and heading towards the happy hunting grounds. Or retirement. It’s probably going to be on Starmer’s watch whatever happens.