Just two weeks into Jeremy Hunt's new regime at the Foreign Office, Palmerston, the department's mouser, has been spotted dismembering a duckling.

The black-and-white Tom has a reputation for being a keen killer, dwarfing his Number 10 rival Larry's mousing record - but he has never before exhibited a taste for wildfowl.

Three-year-old Palmerston, who has previously been seen tearing chunks off elderly Larry, trotted proudly across Whitehall holding the limp duckling in his mouth.

He intercepted the animal between the Downing Street nature reserve and St James's Park, snatching it under the nose of its mother.