United Kingdom’s Top Diplomatic Cat Palmerston Retires

Palmerston the chief mouser at the UK Foreign Office has decided to retire after four years of service. The black-and-white rescue cat from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has more than 105,000 Twitter followers. He is named after the former Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister Lord Palmerston.

Palmerston was the resident Chief Mouser of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) at Whitehall in London. The chief mouser plans to retire to the countryside and has made it official with a letter. In his letter to Simon McDonald, the office’s permanent under-secretary, Palmerston explained that he wanted more time ‘away from the limelight’.

Palmerston, or @DiploMog’ as he is known on Twitter, said, “Even those with four legs and fur have an important part to play in the U.K.’s global effort. I have been delighted to meet representatives from all over the world, and I hope I have done you proud of putting the U.K.’s best foot or paw forward in such interaction.”

Check out his tweet here,

❗️Important news❗️ pic.twitter.com/PTEun74QYA

— Palmerston (@DiploMog) August 7, 2020

Palmerston has moved to an undisclosed location ‘in the countryside’. He promises to remain ‘an ambassador for the UK’ and praises his fellow “diplocats” and “diplodogs”.

His colleagues said he would be missed.

At the end of August this year, the Foreign Office’s one and only @diplomog will be standing down in his post as Chief Mouser to begin a new life as a country cat.

We’ll all miss him paw-fully, but wish him a purr-fect retirement 😺 pic.twitter.com/v5lZurqHE7

— Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) August 7, 2020

We wish Palmerston a happy and peaceful retirement.