In or out, Larry? As he gets his own Number 10 cat flap (with a brass plaque bearing his name) even Downing Street’s resident moggie can’t decide!

• Larry had to wait for the front door of No 10 Downing Street for him to be opened
• But a cat flap has mysteriously appeared in front door of the building overnight 
• There has been no official announcement about the flap which bears his name 

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 After all the pussyfooting about how to leave, life looks to have just got a whole lot easier for one resident of No 10. No, not Theresa May – but Larry the Downing Street cat.

Our photographs show a cat flap that mysteriously appeared overnight in the building’s famous front door. It means that for the first time, the feline appears to have a user-friendly personal portal to and from the government’s headquarters.

Ever since Larry was recruited as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office in 2011 in an effort to deal with its rodent problem, he has had to wait for a human to open the front door for him every time he wants to go in or out.

Larry has to wait for the front door of No 10 Downing Street for him to be opened. But a mysterious cat flap has appeared in the door overnight

There has been no official announcement about the flap which bears his name on a plaque

There was no official announcement about the new cat flap, but a source yesterday claimed that there has long been a secret ‘Project Purr-exit’ with the aim of securing a ‘swift, soft exit – and re-entry’ for the 12-year-old tabby.

The cat flap even has its own brass plaque bearing Larry’s name. It is also believed other moggies with designs on slipping in to No 10 cannot, thanks to a locking device on the flap which is triggered by a tiny magnetic key fixed to Larry’s collar.

A Whitehall insider quipped: ‘Lucky old Larry. Thankfully, there was no need for a meaningful vote on this one – if only Brexit was so simple, we’d all be grinning like the Cheshire cat.’

Larry the Downing Street Cat makes a run for it as the executive of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries attempts to give him a pet in February 2018

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Larry, a rescue cat from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, has often been seen sitting on the steps staring forlornly at the front door while waiting to be let in. A police officer has even had to come to his aid when he has been stuck outside in the rain hoping someone would open the door so he could dry off his fur inside.

But some observers may have already smelt a rat over the cat flap’s timely arrival. No 10 Downing Street is a Grade 1 listed building – and questions are likely to be asked if planning permission was ever sought to cut a hole in it’s front door.

Confused Lisa Loporf, from newly formed pressure group LARK (Londoners Against Refurbished Knockers), which campaigns for doors of historical or cultural significance to be preserved in their original condition, said: ‘How could this ever happen?’

Those in the know, however, say one thing is for certain – taxpayers will not have to foot the bill for the cat flap.

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