Palmerston is a cat who was the resident Chief Mouser of the

Foreign & Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

(FCO) at

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in London. He is a black-and-white bicolour cat and began his role in the position of Chief Mouser on 13 April 2016. Previously, he was from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and is named after the former Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865), known as Lord Palmerston, was a British statesman and politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1855 to 1858 and from 1859 to 1865. A m ...

. He was employed at the King Charles Street building. The inception of the position of Chief Mouser at the FCO followed from the position Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, Larry and from visits from George Osborne's cat Freya who made regular visits to the office. Palmerston was in the news on 3 May 2016, as it was reported that he had caught his first mouse. On 11 July 2016, Palmerston was caught on camera in a stand-off between himself and Larry in and around Downing Street. On 26 July 2016, Palmerston was caught sneaking into Number 10, when the black door was left open. He was later evicted by resident police. On 1 August 2016, a journalist caught Palmerston and Larry having a serious cat-fight, which led to Palmerston having damage to his ear and Larry losing his collar. In October 2017, Palmerston "appointed" his first overseas envoys. Lawrence of Abdoun, a rescued black-and-white street tomcat, was given a role at the British Embassy in

Amman, Jordan Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the List of largest cities in the ...

, and is named after British military officer T. E. Lawrence and the neighbourhood in Amman where the embassy is located. Leyla Pixie, an orphaned kitten from Turkey, was adopted by the British Consulate General in Istanbul. On 7 August 2020, Palmerston "retired" as the FCO's Chief Mouser, moving to the countryside to "spend more time relaxing away from the limelight"; his "resignation" was announced on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. On 3 February 2025, it was reported that Palmerston came out of retirement to take up a role in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

as "feline relations consultant" to the new

Governor of Bermuda The governor of Bermuda (officially Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Somers Isles (alias the Islands of Bermuda)) is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. For the purposes of this arti ...

, Andrew Murdoch who has owned Palmerston since his retirement.

References

External links

Palmerston's official twitter feed (@DiploMog)

Cat starts work at Foreign office
{{s-end Individual cats in the United Kingdom 2014 animal births Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Individual cats in England Individual cats in politics Male mammals Working cats

See also

References

External links