A weekly newspaper earned a TV appearance last week after a government minister was forced to deny claims that his department spent £10,000 on biscuits.

The Brentwood Weekly News featured comments by the town’s MP Eric Pickles under the headline:  “I did not spend £10,000 on extra biscuits.”

Mr Pickles, who is also communities and local government secretary, was later taunted over the front page on the TV news quiz show Have I Got News For You.

And the splash was also re-tweeted more than 1,000 times after being picked up by comedienne Ellie Taylor, who went to school in the town.

Said Ellie: “Of all the great headlines I’ve seen in local newspapers, this one takes the biscuit! As soon as my sister sent me the picture I knew it was too good to keep to myself.

“And it turns out the Twittersphere cannot get enough of sordid claims about Tories and afternoon snacks!”

Later on Have I Got News For You, guest host Robert Lindsay asked panelists: “Has anyone seen the latest financial scandal brewing in Brentwood?”

Mr Lindsay read out the headline as the weekly news front page was put up on the screen.

Mr Pickles said the skewered figures resulted from an admin error.

He said;  “There is not a crumb of truth here.  It was Labour who had their hand in taxpayers’ cookie jar to the tune of half a million pounds. We have put a stop to that and reduced spending on all refreshments to just a fraction of the cost.”