Former Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris pops up everywhere. When The Insider wakes up in the morning, he’s on the Today programme.

He bombards Twitter with a stream of consciousness.

He is on more TV shows talking about abortion, ethics and NHS reform than he did when voters had given him a job.

But ask him some questions, and he is uncharacteristically reticent.

Does he intend to stand in Oxford at the next General Election?

And, more intriguingly, do local Lib Dems want him to?

The only response is a dialling tone.

What on earth can it mean?

lIT is nice to see Banbury MP Tony Baldry doing his bit for Oxfordshire libraries. The Tory is sending a copy of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling’s new memoir, describing the dysfunction and division at the top of the last Government, to Banbury and BIcester libraries. What a good way to make a point! Maybe all Oxfordshire politicians should send a book of their choice to their local library.

If readers have any suggestions, email theinsider@oxfordmail.co.uk.

lRAF Brize Norton is used to handling bombshells, but loading Cheryl Cole onto a troop carrier bound for Camp Bastion must send war-hardened veterans giddy with excitement.

Forces’ sweethearts aren’t quite as clean-cut as they used to be, and you can’t imagine Vera Lynn attacking a nightclub toilet attendant.

The Insider understands the trip was to film a tribute video for the Pride of Britain Awards, and not to launch the Afghani X-Factor.

Mind you, the show would be much more exciting if the wannabes’ “boot camp” was relocated to Helmand Province.

lWITH the magnificent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy about to hit cinema screens, how close did Britain come to having a Soviet sleeper PM?

On his visit to Russia this week, David Cameron described being tapped up by the KGB on a post-Eton jaunt along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

On the Black Sea coast he met two Russians who spoke perfect English, asking about politics and life in England over lunch and dinner.

The Witney MP said: “When I got to university I told my tutor about this and he asked me whether I thought it was an interview. “Well, if it was, it seems I didn’t get the job.”

It’s reassuring to know we do not have a foreign agent in Downing Street, but even more heartwarming to find out the Prime Minister once failed a job interview.

After all, when applying for his first job at Conservative Central Office, the interviewer got a call from Buckingham Palace telling him he was “about to meet a truly remarkable young man”. Who needs friends in the Kremlin if you have friends like that at home?