We should have more Commons cats to take care of rodents, suggests Hoyle

The animal-loving Commons Speaker has welcomed Clem, a three-year-old stray, to the family – to join ‘head mouser’ Attlee.

Attlee is a brown tabby Maine Coon (Richard Wheeler/PA)

Sir Lindsay Hoyle has suggested there is a need for more cats in Parliament after welcoming a stray named Clem to his family.

The Commons Speaker joked there would be “cats across the House” to take care of the rodent population “if I had my way”, adding he would also love to see a “Bring Your Pet Day” in Parliament.

He made the remarks in the presence of Attlee, dubbed “head mouser of Speaker’s House”, who is two-and-a-half years old.

Named after former Labour prime minister Clement Attlee, Sir Lindsay said the brown tabby Maine Coon has been joined in the Hoyle family by three-year-old Clem – a black cat with Bengal markings who “turned up at our house one day”.

Animal-loving Sir Lindsay has a number of pets, including a tortoise named Maggie and a parrot named Boris.

In 2014, calls were made for rescue cats from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to be deployed in Parliament to crack down on mice running riot on the estate.

But the Commons was told a study had shown because of the size of the Westminster estate, one or two rescue cats would not be enough and a “herd of cats” would not be manageable.

Sir Lindsay, on Attlee’s job for the King’s Speech on Wednesday, told the PA news agency: “His role will be to keep the staff calm, he’s a therapy cat as well, he works his way around the desks in the offices here and if need be he’ll go out and visit people and say, ‘Look, I’m around’.

“We’ve had the odd MP ring up and say, including the Clerk of the House, ‘Oh there’s a mouse in my office, can we borrow Attlee?’ and he’s gone out.”

Sir Lindsay said Attlee’s “good service is always welcome”, adding: “The good thing is he only asks for a pack of Dreamies. What he’ll do for a Dreamies – in fact, he’s looking at you now thinking you might have some.”

Asked about the role of therapy animals in offices, the Speaker said: “If I had my way, I’ll be quite honest, I think we should have cats across the House that look after the rodent population. I think it’d be good for the House.

“There’s nothing better than seeing a cat. Anybody who likes cats are nice people.”

He added: “I’d love to have ‘Bring Your Pet Day to Parliament’, I think it’d be fantastic. Maggie my tortoise is on the terrace at the moment. Boris the parrot is upstairs already, he’s shouting away.

“We’ve got Attlee but we’ve now got Clem.”

Sir Lindsay described Clem as “part-Bengal but mixed with some alley cat I think”, adding: “He’s a black cat with Bengal markings in his fur. He’s quite cute, completely different to Attlee.

“I think it’s the Jekyll and Hyde of the cat society.”

He added of Clem: “He’s a new stray that’s come along that we’ve taken in. He turned up at our house one day.”