NOTHING should get in the way of the most important round-table Cabinet discussions in the land – except perhaps the Brentwood Gazette's own personalised ringtone – regularly interrupting the Prime Minister in mid-flow.
The First Lord of the Treasury might not recognise all the jingles on Eric Pickles' mobile – but he can at least tell when the Gazette rings – pressing for a quote on deadline morning.
"That's a familiar ringtone – what does the Brentwood Gazette want?" was how David Cameron quizzed Mr Pickles after another call from one of our reporters during last week's Cabinet meeting.
No doubt the 32 men and women representing the highest part of Government, gathered around the Cabinet table between 9.30am and 11.15am on the Gazette's busiest morning, all know it too by now.
The Gazette's habitual calls to the MP for Brentwood and Ongar on the morning he sits shoulder to shoulder with colleagues round the iconic mahogany table at the heart of Number 10 Downing Street, has not gone unnoticed by his boss.
"The whole point is you have got to stop ringing me on Tuesday mornings," Mr Pickles said.
"Most of the time I remember to turn it off, but last week it went off and the Prime Minister said, 'what does the Brentwood Gazette want now?'"
Mr Pickles revealed our calls to the heart of government during a speech at the Essex Business Excellence Awards on Thursday.
The awards bash, sponsored by the Gazette's parent company the Essex Chronicle Media Group, features in this week's edition of The Business, inside this paper.
Mr Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has several ringtones for each of his main contacts – the Gazette's is John Phillip Sousa's Washington Post.
And while the main ring tone is Miles Davis's So What, there are others that are more tongue in cheek.
Beethoven's Ode to Joy – the European Union's International Anthem – proudly announces each call from one of Mr Pickles' more Eurosceptic chums.
"I've got a load programmed in," said Mr Pickles. "I was bored one afternoon so I associated all my main numbers with different tunes.
"I've been asked if I could pass the phone over to the Prime Minister. There is absolutely no way that is ever going to happen."
Gazette reporter Piers Meyler contacted the Secretary of State at about 10am yesterday for the quotes in this article – and of course to send his apologies to the Prime Minister.
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