Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office
| Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
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Arms of Her Majesty's Government
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Government of the United Kingdom Office of the Prime Minister |
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| Reports to | Cabinet |
| Residence | 10 Downing Street |
| Appointer | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| Term length | No set length; ends on retirement or death |
| Inaugural holder | Cardinal Wolsey's cat |
| Formation | c. 1515 |
| Website | www.gov.uk |
The Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is the title of the official resident cat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street. Only four cats, Humphrey, Sybil, Larry and Freya have been given the title officially; other cats were given this title affectionately, usually by the British press. There has been a resident Treasury or Downing Street cat employed as a and pet since the reign of Henry VIII, when Cardinal Wolsey placed his cat by his side while acting in his judicial capacity as Lord Chancellor, an office he assumed in 1515.
Official records released into the public domain on 4 January 2005 as part of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 only date back to 3 June 1929, when A.E. Banham at the Treasury authorised the Office Keeper "to spend 1d a day from petty cash towards the maintenance of an efficient cat". In April 1932, the weekly allowance was increased to 1s 6d. By the twenty-first century, the mouser was costing £100 per annum. The cats do not necessarily belong to the Prime Minister in residence and it is rare for the Chief Mouser's term of office to coincide with that of a Prime Minister. The cat with the longest known tenure at Downing Street is Wilberforce, who served for thirteen years under Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, and Margaret Thatcher.
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