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Downing Street was abuzz today after Michael Gove’s secret ringtone was supposedly identified by Nick Clegg and appeared to be a dig at David Cameron.

According to Mr Clegg, the Beyoncé song that went off in Cabinet last week, earning the Chief Whip a stern rebuke from the Prime Minister, was Irreplaceable.

His claim raised eyebrows, for the song is open to political interpretations, either as an acid comment on Mr Gove’s move from Education Secretary last year or as a reference to Mr Cameron’s own future.

One verse contains the lines: “Baby I won’t shed a tear for you (I won’t shed a tear for you) / I won’t lose a wink of sleep (a wink of sleep) / ‘Cause the truth of the matter is (truth is) / Replacing you is so easy.”

The song opens with the repeated words: “To the left, to the left.” But Mr Gove denied it was the right track. He has refused to identify the tune, calling it “an in-joke”. However, his wife, columnist Sarah Vine, said it was “Beyoncé’s latest oeuvre”.

Mr Gove’s allies launched a fightback against Mr Clegg, saying the real song was “on Beyoncé’s fifth album, released in 2013”. They said it could not be Irreplacable as it was from 2006, “in the days when the Lib-Dems still opposed tuition fees”.

Mr Clegg was played a selection of Beyoncé songs on LBC radio by presenter Nick Ferrari and said “I think it was this”. But Gove-ites suggested Mr Clegg’s team looked for the song with the most embarrassing lyrics.