Starmer family’s new Siberian kitten called Prince, Prime Minister reveals

Prince is the name of Sir Keir Starmer’s new pet Siberian kitten, the Prime Minister has revealed.

The kitten is white with blue eyes, Sir Keir said, as he spoke to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.

The Prime Minister had previously told broadcasters his two children had requested a German Shepherd dog once the Starmer family moved into Downing Street.

But he said a summer of “negotiations” had led them to instead get the new cat, which will live in their Downing Street flat alongside their current pet, rescue cat JoJo, and the No 10’s resident chief mouser Larry.

After revealing the kitten’s name, Sir Keir said the new pet was there to help his children deal with the “profound impact” of being in the public eye.

The Prime Minister and his wife Victoria have not named their children or appeared with them publicly in photographs to maintain their privacy.

Sir Keir told the BBC: “People asked me before the election what am I most worried about and I always said the impact on my children.”

He added: “I have to acknowledge this is a big move for them and therefore negotiating a fantastic kitten called Prince was part of the deal that they extracted from me.”

Sir Keir revealed his family would be getting the new kitten when he was asked by the BBC for an update on remarks he made during the election about the family discussing a new dog.

He also shared the difficulties of pet ownership at the heart of Government, as it had not been possible to install a cat flap in the bomb-proof door leading out of the family’s Downing Street flat.

Speculation remains about why Sir Keir, who was in his youth a supporter of abolishing the monarchy, will give his new pet a royal-sounding name.

In 2021, footage surfaced showing the then-human rights barrister telling a film-maker in 2005: “I also got made a Queen’s Counsel which is odd, since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy.”

But when Queen Elizabeth II died, Sir Keir paid a warm tribute, saying in the Commons: “For the 70 glorious years of her reign, our Queen was at the heart of this nation’s life.”