POLITICIANS of a certain age often start thinking of their legacy and Sir Tony Baldry, the MP for Banbury, appears to be no different.

In a recent appearance in the House of Commons he referred to his 2013 decision to leave his body to Oxford University’s school of medicine.

He said: “Partly because there is quite a lot of it, but also because I hope that, in that way, I can demonstrate that engraved on my heart are the words, ‘Keep the Horton General’.”

Jimmy Ruffin famously sang “What becomes of the brokenhearted”?

And for the sake of Sir Tony’s health, we can only hope that his fellow Conservative, the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt, doesn’t use his new-found powers under Clause 119 to close down the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

Oxford Mail: Andrew Smith MP

  • MEANWHILE, another Oxfordshire MP who has been active in the House of Commons recently is Andrew Smith, above.

The Oxford East MP recently asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, about the New Guinea flatworm, which has been found in France recently, where it is eating the country’s snails.

Mr Smith was eager to find out what the Secretary of State is doing in anticipation of the flatworm’s arrival in the UK – and he was told, rather honestly, that no plans currently exist.

Hopefully, Mr Smith will be comforted by the fact that a large ditch filled with water separates the UK from France. In the meantime the people of Oxford East can get a headstart and protect their snails.

  • THERE are people out there who will always think politics is a grubby business.

    But Oxfordshire County Council is out to prove them wrong with its new corporate plan, setting out the authority’s aspirations and values for the next few years.

And when The Insider turned to the section of the plan which sets out the county council’s values he saw nothing he could disagree with.

Honesty, innovation, efficiency and effectiveness are all listed as the county council’s values and its good to know this is what our political leaders are committing to.

But on further inspection The Insider noticed a heading which said the council’s values are “currently under review” and “may be revised”.

  • FINALLY, it has been brought to the attention of one of The Insider’s colleagues that rozzers based at Abingdon Police Station are doing a bit of ‘thieving’ of their own. Allegedly.

This is because cops can pick up wi-fi from the McDonald’s restaurant across the road from their Colwell Drive station.

That at least saves the force a bit of face by preventing its officers from dashing across the road on the pretence of checking emails and instead pigging out (pun intended) on Big Macs.