Jeremy Corbyn at home with El Gato – the cat featured on the Labour Party’s calendar in 2017

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JEREMY Corbyn – the former leader of the Labour Party – has written a heart-warming obituary to his cat, El Gato, for our sister paper, the Islington Tribune. It was too good not to share it with you:

El Gato arrived in our house as a kitten, brought to us by a family member.

I found him hiding in a bookcase of mine as a very small kitten. He grew very much on us and became part of our lives and family.

Since then, we would have breakfast together every morning. I would prepare breakfast for El Gato, before preparing my own. If I had been eating cereal, I would often catch him drinking the rest of the milk from the bowl (I didn’t know cats liked oat milk before El Gato).

El Gato had a habit of being annoyed with me for doing too many early morning zoom meetings. If he was fed up with that, he would walk along the computer keyboard so his full body would appear across the screen.

He had a phenomenal memory. If he and I had a disagreement, he would wait for me to come home, ready to scratch my ankles as I got up the stairs. This is what he would call a rear-guard action. By the late evening he would have forgiven me: we would watch television together as he sat on my lap.

He also has a very good sense of direction. From the back of my house, he could go to the Job Centre on a daily basis, but he was never given any employment. He could also walk to the very end of our road by jumping over people’s fences. He always knew his way back, and would wait at our front door for us to let him in.

Last year I was in my study at home and had left the back door open. I heard an incredible commotion, and went to find El Gato having a stand-off with a fox. El Gato chased the fox back into the house and into the bathroom. I went in and separated them. At that point, the fox had had enough and ran out into our very small garden, and El Gato chased it up a tree. The fox then ran to the job centre; another animal looking for work. El Gato returned looking very pleased with himself.

He was very popular on social media, and indeed a number of people set up accounts for him. He was also very proud to be part of the Labour Party’s calendar in 2017. He was less popular with much of the wider media, and was – like me – subject to intense activity of the right-wing press who wished to smear his character. He was very much of the Left, and wanted a socially just and fair society. Indeed, at one time he brought a stray cat into his orbit, sharing his shelter and food. As this shows, El Gato was very empathetic to the needs of a homeless cat.

I will miss El Gato’s company and friendship very much. Rest in peace El Gato, you made our house a home and made many people very happy.