Bloxham resident Tony Baldry MP has already given his excuses to the organisers of the village’s inaugural music festival next May, apologising that he won’t be able to take on the official ribbon-cutting duties.

Apparently, he thinks there may be something else he needs to concentrate on at the same time... like fighting a General Election.

Not that he should worry.

While we wouldn’t want to be seen to be pre-judging the outcome, as one observer notes: “In north Oxfordshire, they don’t so much count the Conservative votes as weigh them.”

However, Mr Baldry may have been jumping the gun in expecting an invitation from the festival organisers.

The Insider has heard the committee’s first choice to open the festival is local actress Jo Joyner, better known as Tanya Branning from EastEnders.

We imagine that working for (Lord) Peter Mandelson, right, probably involves being a stickler for timekeeping.

Probably? Make that definitely.

One journalist lucky enough to grab a word with the Prince of Darkness during a recent tour of the Mini plant in Cowley was told Mandy was on a very tight schedule.

But when he came to interview the big man, the hack wasn’t prepared for the beep of a stopwatch when he uttered his first question.

No, seriously. The aide even said “time's up” as he was whisked away exactly three minutes later.

Blooming cheek.

Now that’s what I call service. Lucky callers phoning the Thames Valley Police non-emergency number on 08458 505505 could be forgiven for thinking they’ve got straight though to Chief Constable Sara Thornton’s office.

Alas, it’s just a message she’s left. No one is that lucky. Not with the cops.

Ms Thornton said: “Thames Valley Police is committed to providing excellent customer service and runs a staff suggestion scheme to look for ways service can be improved. The suggestion to change the message was made by an officer as part of this scheme, and it was decided it would be appropriate that people who contact Thames Valley Police via the non-emergency number should be greeted by myself... and the message was changed accordingly.”

If you want to get ahead, be a Twit. Shadow culture secretary, Wantage MP and all round cool cat Ed Vaizey, is now among the legions signed up on social networking site Twitter (twiter.com/edvaizey) and a cursory glance shows he has a staggering 969 followers.

But who are among the lucky 91 he is following?

Well, David Cameron (obviously), Radio Five Live presenter Richard Bacon, Daily Mail political editor Ben Brogan and Channel Four’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, actually.