User:Tim O'Doherty/sandbox-i

Rufus, nicknamed Rufus of England and Treasury Bill, was a cat owned by Ramsay MacDonald who fulfilled the function of chief mouser to the Cabinet Office, his term beginning in 1924 and ending around 1930.

Life and career
Rufus was the cat of Ramsay MacDonald, prime minister for two terms in the 1920s and 1930s, and was "a renowned rat-catcher". He had belonged to the permanent secretary to the Treasury, Warren Fisher's friend in Kent, but was given to the Treasury after she had repeatedly caught him hunting the birds in her garden. Upon his arrival, Fisher gave him the name Rufus.

In 1924 he was moved from the Treasury to 10 Downing Street, and began his duties as the chief mouser to the Cabinet Office. According to C. Patrick Thompson he was "sandy", "aloof", "testy" and "even an unfriendly sort of cat", but noted that he was "[t]he Terror of the mouse empire, the feline Attilla", and a reporter from the Daily Mirror stated that he was "most ingratiating when we met". Rufus was noted to bring the carcasses of the animals he had hunted to MacDonald; upon realising that they would be disposed of afterwards, he began instead bringing them directly to the bin. He was nicknamed "Rufus of England" and "Treasury Bill", the latter for "reasons presently to be explained".

Rufus was given 2d per day, spent on fish, meat and milk, which was raised to 3d per day by the chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden in March 1930, despite Snowden being "notoriously deficient in the milk of human kindness". According to a storywhich The Times stated "may be apocryphal"Snowden was told by Treasury officials and Warren Fisher that Rufus was underfed; Snowden made a note to increase Rufus's pay via a vote in the Commons. Another story has it that Snowden had been constructing the budget when he noticed Rufus in the room with him. Taken by the cat, he increased its pay. In December 1930, the financial secretary to the Treasury, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, was questioned in the House of Commons about Rufus's health. The Western Mail reported that Rufus "had an affliction under one ear and was obviously in no mouse-catching mood".