LONDON • 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 US President Donald Trump's armoured limousine, nicknamed "the Beast", and refused to move, NBC reporter Bill Neely said on Twitter on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether Larry's presence halted Mr Trump's movement during his tenuous three-day visit to Britain.
Earlier, the cat appeared in a photo of Mr Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May in front of No. 10 Downing Street, 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.
But those duties were short-lived.
Larry's duties as "chief mouser" ended in 2016 when he was sacked for sub-par performance.
Yet Larry's influence looms large on social media, and he temporarily stole the spotlight from Mr 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 on Twitter.
WASHINGTON POST
