INSIDER

Alan McGee, head of Creation Records (the British home of Oasis), has been tabbed by British Prime Minster Tony Blair to sit on a “creative task force” to advise the new British government on arts policies. The appointment of McGee, a staunch Blair supporter, drew criticism from the U.K.’s conservative press over the label executive’s past addictions to cocaine and alcohol--though he sought help in a rehab clinic and is now clean and sober.

McGee humorously noted that 10 years ago, during Margaret Thatcher’s administration, he “could see myself . . . blowing up the House of Commons. I could never see myself getting invited there, let alone being asked to help the government of the country.”