When Larry the cat, chief mouser at No 10, was spotted limping shortly after Theresa May took up residence, the new prime minister’s top team took no chances.

A vet was swiftly summoned to examine Larry’s front-right paw as Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat, emerged as chief suspect.

It was with no little relief that a government spokesman was able to announce that the famous feline, adored by all in Downing Street – including, despite rumours to the contrary, David Cameron who declared his love in his final PMQs – “was expected to make a full recovery”...