One beast under another triggered a diplomatic incident in London.
Larry the Downing Street cat, perhaps the most famous executive feline since the Clintons' Socks, took shelter from the rain under President Donald Trump's armored limousine, nicknamed "the Beast," and refused to move, NBC reporter Bill Neely said Tuesday on Twitter.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Larry's presence halted Trump's movement during his tenuous three-day visit to the United Kingdom. Earlier, the cat appeared in a photo of Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May in front of 10 Downing St., the prime minister's residence.
This is not Larry's first rodeo. He has been a fixture around No. 10 since 2011, when he was brought in to hunt rats after one scurried outside during a live BBC broadcast, The Washington Post reported.
What do you expect me to do, sit out in the rain? https://t.co/vkI9AWHtwy
- Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) June 4, 2019
But those duties were short-lived. Larry's duties as "chief mouser" ended in 2016 when he was sacked for subpar performance.
Yet Larry's influence looms large on social media, and he temporarily stole the spotlight from Trump's visit, which has included protests using the diaper-clad "baby Trump" inflatable balloon.
"BREAKING: anti-Trump demonstrators fail to stop @realDonaldTrump motorcade, but @Number10cat does," the BBC's Jon Sopel wrote.
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