Revealed: Michael Gove’s ‘female ballad’ ringtone

After Michael Gove’s mobile phone went off in a Cabinet meeting, everyone’s been trying to find out what the ‘jazzy’ ringtone is. As Mr S documented, even Charles Moore was thwarted in his attempts to catch the Chief Whip out by ringing his phone when they were both at dinner. Now his wife has revealed the woman behind the ‘female ballad’ ringtone in her Daily Mail column. ‘Last week, during quite an important work meeting, an urgent email popped up in his inbox,’ Sarah Vine writes. ‘Not wishing to seem rude by looking at his phone, he instead turned to his latest gadget, a Pebble Smartwatch, which I bought him for Christmas.’

The watch is a device of many talents, which include receiving emails and texts, checking the weather and playing music. Still a novice when it came to his new gadget, Gove accidentally instructed the device to play Beyoncé.

‘Just as the Chancellor of the Exchequer was explaining a particularly complex piece of fiscal policy to Her Majesty’s assembled Cabinet, my husband (the Government Chief Whip, Michael Gove) mistakenly instructed his watch to play Beyoncé’s latest oeuvre,’ she says.