Palmerston, the Foreign Office’s famous cat, has retired from mousing duties to “spend more time relaxing away from the limelight”.

In a “letter” dedicated to explantation of his decision at length, he sadi he has moved away from Whitehall and is now climbing trees rather than “overhearing all the foreign dignitaries’ conversations”.
The black-and-white cat, who has more than 105,000 Twitter followers, arrived from Battersea in 2016.

Palmerson has been known to clash with Larry, Number 10’s main mouse-catcher.
Their decidedly undiplomatic disputes – which have included several hissy fits and a stand-off in full view of the press in Downing Street – are not thought to have hastened his departure.

Named after the 19th-Century Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, Palmerston cat has often featured in photographs involving visiting officials. The news of his retirement hit the world’s headlines.