George Osborne's cat Freya 'at the vets after being hit by car outside Downing Street' | London Evening Standard | The Standard

Oct 16, 2024

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The Chancellor's family cat Freya was hit by a car near Downing Street last night.

It is understood George Osborne's feline was "clipped" at the Ministry of Defence end of Whitehall, but it is not yet clear whose car was involved.

Sources said she was not seriously hurt is and should be able to return to Number 11 Downing Street soon after being taken to the vets.

The news - which came on World Cat Day - was broken by political photographer Steve Back, who tweeted: "So sad [to] report Freya was hit by a car outside Downing St last night and is at the vets not very well at all."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">BREAKING : So sad report this Freya was hit by a car outside Downing St last Night and is at vets notvery well at all <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&amp;id=222025&amp;p=http://t.co/ehnFf4EKT8" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-199761-http://t.co/ehnFf4EKT8" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/ehnFf4EKT8</a>— Political Pictures (@PoliticalPics) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/PoliticalPics/statuses/497725851069599745" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-199761-https://twitter.com/PoliticalPics/statuses/497725851069599745" data-vars-event-id="c23">August 8, 2014</a>

Freya the tabby, who is around five years old, joined George Osborne and his family in Downing Street two years after he became Chancellor in 2010.

She had previously lived in the Osborne family home in Notting Hill after being born in April 2009. Just a few months later, she went missing from the home prompting fears that she may have died.

But three years later, in 2012, Mr Osborne's wife Francis received a call telling her Freya had been found living as a stray and had been traced using a microchip number.

On another occasion, earlier this year, she was found near one of London's busiest junctions in Vauxhall, south London.

The three women who found Freya were passing a building site at around 11pm when they heard a mewing from above. When they looked up they saw her perched perilously on barriers around the site.

A member of Osborne's staff drove to pick her up the following day, finding Freya bearing a note from those who had found her.

"Found - on the streets in Vauxhall," it read. "Not everyone is as lucky as Freya. George please stop cutting homeless services."

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