Sir Keir Starmer has revealed that he is “a bit worried” about the prospect of his new kitten meeting Larry the Downing Street cat, as he faced questions from a panel of primary school children.

The Prime Minister also said that he wanted to be a footballer when he was a child, as he was interviewed by Newsround viewers in Downing Street.

He showed the pupils – from a range of primary schools – a picture of him with Prince, and told them that the Siberian kitten was named by his daughter.

“He’s settling in fine and so my daughter sometimes comes down from the flat to my office… with Prince on her shoulder to show everybody,” he said.

Sir Keir went on: “He hasn’t yet met Larry, because Larry is a lot bigger than Prince, so I’m a bit worried that if Larry doesn’t like Prince… Larry’s been here for a very long time and Prince is the new kid on the block.”

Sir Keir took questions from a group of 15 primary school children in the Cabinet room in Number 10.

The group – aged between nine and 11 – asked Sir Keir about a range of issues, including housing, the cost of living and climate change.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street (Ben Whitley/PA)
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street (Ben Whitley/PA)

At one point, Sir Keir was asked what his dream job had been when he was younger, and whether he had ever envisioned becoming the prime minister.

“I certainly didn’t think I’d be prime minister, when I was your age I wanted to be a footballer,” he said.

He got a high-five from one of the young interviewers when he told them he was an Arsenal fan, and but there were groans as one of the others shared that they were a Tottenham Hotspur fan.

He went on: “I wanted to be a footballer, and then actually when I left school I wanted to be a lawyer which is why I went on to do law.

“I didn’t at that point think I would ever be involved in politics, I certainly didn’t think I’d be prime minister.

“I went on to be a lawyer for quite a long time until I decided that isn’t going to be enough to change the country in the way I want, and that’s when I went into politics.”

“So when I was your age I wouldn’t have said I wanted to be prime minister,” he added.

Sir Keir also took a question on his relationships with world leaders such as US President-elect Donald Trump, and said that he hopes the so-called special relationship across the Atlantic goes “from strength to strength”.

He said: “I think it’s really important that we do have those relationships with international leaders.

“Because if you think about all the really big problems in the world – climate change, conflict, extreme poverty – they’re all problems that are not just in one country, and therefore you can’t solve these problems just in the United Kingdom, you have to work with others.”

Sir Keir mentioned the special relationship with the US and added: “I intend to make sure that that goes from strength to strength because we need that to be a strong relationship. Many other leaders we need strong relationships with as well.”