Buster was a dog belonging to Roy Hattersley, a British politician and former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Buster was a mongrel, as his father was a German Shepherd, and his mother a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. He was a former rescue dog adopted by Hattersley from Brent Animal Shelter, in 1995. In 1998, Hattersley published Buster's Diaries (as told to Roy Hattersley) which were purportedly the dog's own thoughts on his life and relationship with his owner, and in which Buster was characterised as having acted in self-defense.