There are not many council leaders who can claim to have campaigned for two future Prime Ministers within their patch but one who did was the late and lamented former leader of Oxfordshire, Keith Mitchell, who died last week.

Mr Mitchell, an accountant by profession, was leader of Oxfordshire CC from 2001-2012. A photo in the Oxford Mail shows him seated in the middle of two fresh-faced and aspiring prospective parliamentary candidates on the campaign trail during the 2005 General Election – Boris Johnson and David Cameron.