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‘Diplocat’ Gets Job: Gladstone The Cat In Charge Of Keeping U.K. Treasury Mouse-Free

By Jennifer Ricketts
Published on: 14:14 PST, Jul 31, 2016

“Diplocat” Gladstone has gotten a job at the U.K. Treasury to eradicate the mouse population. The Treasury is having a huge rodent problem. The 18-month-old Domestic Short Hair cat was a stray who was found and donated to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in south London.

Gladstone is named after William Ewart Gladstone, who served as Prime Minister for four terms, and joins two other “diplocats,” Larry and Palmerston, both of whom were also strays at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

According to the shelter, Gladstone’s new job was announced by a spokesperson from the Treasury.

“We are delighted to introduce our new cat, Gladstone, to the heart of British politics. Gladstone can look forward to pouring over Budget scorecards, greeting visitors from around the world, but most importantly, setting his sights on the rodent population of the Treasury and assisting our pest controllers in keeping down the number of mice in our Horse Guard Road offices.”

The “diplocat” was introduced in an Instagram post.

Gladstone’s fellow mouser, Larry, has a job at the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street and has been at his job since February, 2011. He’s very successful at catching mice but doesn’t get along with other cats at all. In April, Palmerston was given the job of mousing at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Larry kept his job as Chief Mouser even after the resignation of former Prime Minister David Cameron when many of Cameron’s cabinet ministers ended up losing their jobs. James Kirkup from the Telegraph accused Cameron of not loving Larry the cat, which stirred up a lot of emotions in the U.K.

The very next day, Cameron had a photo of himself with the cat at his last Prime Minister’s Questions and tweeted the same photo with the caption, “Proof.”

“It gives me the opportunity to put a rumour to rest as well…the rumour that I somehow don’t love Larry. I do and I have photographic evidence to prove it. Sadly I can’t take Larry with me, he belongs to the house and the staff love him very much – as do I,” Cameron said.

Soon two of the “diplocats,” Larry and Palmerston, were involved in several fights over territory. One of those fights led to Larry suffering from a sore paw which caused him to limp. The cat was in poor shape and received treatment from a vet with donations. Palmerston later ended up losing some of his fur in either another fight with Larry or a different cat.

The question is, will Gladstone join in the fights between the two other “diplocats,” or will he be able to calm things down? The Telegraph reports people have taken to Twitter using the hashtag #teamlarry or #teampalmerston to take sides and tweet about their favorite cat. Will the hashtag #teamgladstone be thrown into the mix? Gladstone is already winning a “cutest cat” poll on Instagram.

Gladstone was kept in his pet carrier on his first day in the building, according to UPI, likely to keep a scuffle from happening.

In a photo on Instagram of Gladstone in his carrier, the picture was captioned, “Me on my first day at my new home. The humans had to keep me in this cage in case I ran down the street and tormented some other mouser called ‘Larry.’ Personally, I’ve never heard of him. #moving day.”

What are your thoughts on Gladstone, the “diplocat” who got a job?

[Image via Instagram]

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