2 senior UK ministers hunt down rat during budget meeting

London, July 5 

Larry, the 10 Downing Street's ‘chief mouser’, could be sent packing in Prime Minister David Cameron's next reshuffle with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and his Cabinet colleague giving stiff competition to the feline.

The cat is under pressure after Osborne and Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock chased a rodent around the Treasury in the middle of a top-level budget meeting.

During top-level talks ahead of the budget, a mouse ran across the sofa in the Chancellor's office, sending one official screaming from the room.

Undeterred, Osborne and Hancock leapt from their seats and chased the rogue rodent until eventually they had it cornered, The Telegraph reported.

Hancock, a keen cricketer, pounced on the mouse, trapping it in a brown paper sandwich bag, before environmental health officers were called.

The ministers did the job this time but Larry, a brown and white tabby, is the 10 Downing Street cat and ‘Chief Mouser’ to the Cabinet Office.

Larry, who is rumoured to prefer sleeping to hunting, had previously on two occasions been found wanting after rats were seen behind television news correspondents reporting live.

The cat is also intended to be a pet for the children of David and Samantha Cameron. PTI