A Government Minister will get a pleasant surprise this weekend after joking at a Taunton Deane Borough Council business conference event that it had forgotten his birthday.

When introduced to one of the attendees, Chris Ormrod, managing director of Taunton-based the Ministry of Cake's, business minister Sajid Javid MP joked: "It's my birthday this weekend, it would have been nice if you'd brought a cake.''

Mr Ormrod replied: ''Sorry Minister. I think it must have got stuck on the A358.''

The road is a notorious bottleneck for traffic heading from Ilminster towards Taunton.

Mr Ormrod had intended to ask a question about improving road links and government support for businesses in the west, but afterwards realised he had made his point more effectively.

So he contacted Mr Javid's office and offered to send him a belated birthday cake.

The minister's staff said he would be ''delighted'' to receive one and a chocolate fudge cake is on its way to Mr Javid's constituency office in Bromsgrove today (Friday, December 4).