[DanaC]

Been meaning to post about this for weeks. There's a Dispatches documentary on tonight (rfn) looking into the aftermath.

So...it turns out that he never said 'pleb' at all. He didn;t say half the things he's accused of saying. He did get a bit narky with the police and he swore, but the words attributed to him were false.

The so-called 'eye witness' who wrote to the chief whip claiming to be a member of the public and a constituent of the chief whip was in fact a serving police officer and not present during the incident.

Basically, the guy was totally stitched up by police officers who were pissed off with the way the government was treating the police force.

It was believable to many (including me) that he would have used the word 'pleb' and that this showed his underlying attitude towards ordinary working people. It was also profoundly damaging. To Mitchell's career (he resigned his cabinet position over it), to his party (the cabinet is dominated by old etonian millionaires so anything that illustrates the profound disconnect between the worlds of the governnment and the governed tends to have legs) and the confidence of the police force (they are, like all public sector workers facing cuts, shake ups and redundancies, and a lot of police were understandably hurt, offended and upset at the apparent disdain of those they answer to).

The officer who claimed to be an eyewitness is being prosecuted. Another three (I think) officers are under investigation for leaking reports to the press.

Mitchell will recover his career, possibly, but will he end up back in the cabinet? Much as I dislike the man and his politics, he has been utterly shafted. Not just by the police and the newpaper that published the police reports, but by Downing Street, who once they had the evidence available to them, instead of supporting their man, chose to bury the CCTV that would have cleared him. Refusing at first to even let him see the CCTV on the grounds of 'national security'. They just wanted him to go away and stop being a news story.