LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly a decade since Humphrey was shown the door to No. 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial house has a cat in residence again.
Humphrey the former Downing Street cat, eyes up Moby the goldfish at his new home in a London suburb, November 24. Nearly a decade since Humphrey was shown the door to No. 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial house has a cat in residence again. REUTERS/Str Old
Sybil, named after Basil’s wife in the classic 1970s sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” has moved down from Edinburgh with Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and his family who are living in the three-bedroomed flat above No. 10.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his wife Sarah and their two sons live in the bigger flat at Number 11 Downing Street, traditionally the home of the Chancellor.
Details on Sybil remain scant for the moment but she shares a thespian name with her predecessor — Humphrey was named after Sir Humphrey Appleby in the “Yes Minister” political comedy show.
She also enjoys a distinct advantage over Humphrey in that she comes with the family rather than the house — which was widely believed to have been Humphrey’s ultimate undoing.
Humphrey, who died in March 2006, had walked into London’s most powerful address as a stray late in Margaret Thatcher’s premiership in 1989.
He lived there on and off during the John Major years as a passive Conservative ally but fell from grace after Labour’s landslide election victory in May 1997.
Six months later Humphrey was gone, amid much newspaper speculation that new occupant Tony Blair’s wife Cherie was behind the move.
“The Prime Minister doesn’t have a problem with it (the cat). Sarah Brown doesn’t have a problem with it,” said Brown’s spokesman Tuesday, confirming Sybil was now in residence.
She is far from being the first Downing Street cat.
Before Humphrey, the best known was Wilberforce who lived at No. 10 during the Edward Heath years, and who died in 1988.
A new cat has moved into 10 Downing Street, the residence of now British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, following in the footsteps, or rather pawsteps, of previous Westminister cats "Humphery" and "Wilberforce".

"Sybil", named after "Sybil Fawlty", a character in the British sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'', belongs to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who now lives in residence in a flat above 10 Downing Street (11 Downing Street) itself, having previously lived in Darling's residence in Scotland.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "The prime minister and Sarah (wife of Brown) do not have a problem with it. I am sure the cat will appear at some point."

The cats at 10 Downing Street are often referred to as the, "10 Downing Street mousers" and are given the job of getting rid of mice. There has not been a cat in residence at the house since 1997, after Tony came to power. There were several rumours that Blair's wife, Cherie, was behind the move.