T
he former Conservative MP and lifelong cat lover Ann Widdecombe, 77, was none too impressed when Cherie Blair evicted Humphrey, Downing Street’s resident chief mouser, from No 10. But there’s no chance of Widdecombe meting out the same punishment to her own cat, a “vicious” five-year-old ginger tom called Aloysius. He may have the unfortunate habit of presenting her with dead animals at her home on Dartmoor, but that doesn’t stop them sharing a bed together — even if they do fight over the hot water bottle.
How long have you owned Aloysius?
When I retired as an MP in 2010, I said I wasn’t going to have any more animals because I was away so much and it wouldn’t be fair. Then in 2023, a neighbour asked if I wanted a cat. The cat concerned had been born feral. He belonged to somebody who lived on a farm and that person was moving to a house on a main road and didn’t want to take the cat. I said I couldn’t possibly manage a cat, but the neighbour in question offered to come in and look after him when I was away. So I took the cat — and here comes the sting in the tail — now the neighbour is moving away too.
Aloysius loves to ambush with his claws out
