The Real Andrew Mitchell?

[DanaC]

So, Romney put his foot in it recently and seemingly revealed more about his opinions than might have been wise, dismissive as they were of almost half the American people.

Conservatives in the UK have been at great pains to ensure that they are not perceived as out of touch rich boys, unable to imagine, let alone empathise with, the lives of ordinary working people.

And then the Conservative Govt Chief Whip got into a minor wrangle with the police officers who guard the entrance to Downing Street.

The Daily Telegraph today publishes in full the 442-word police log of the incident in which the Conservative Chief Whip abused officers after being asked to use a side gate. David Cameron defied calls for an official investigation into the incident after Sir Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary, discussed the matter with Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

But Downing Street struggled to draw a line under the scandal and aides admitted that the Prime Minister had not read the official police record.

Mr Mitchell has admitted swearing at the officers but denies calling them “plebs”. The police record, a contemporaneous note of the incident, clearly records him having used the term amid a flurry of expletives.

It details that, last Wednesday evening, Mr Mitchell was speaking to a female Pc, who is named in the log, “demanding exit through the main vehicle gate into Whitehall.” The Chief Whip was told that it was “policy” for cyclists to use a pedestrian gate but claimed that he “always used the main gates” and initially refused to do otherwise.

A colleague of the female officer who wrote the incident report continues: “After several refusals Mr Mitchell got off his bike and walked to the pedestrian gate with me after I again offered to open that for him. “There were several members of public present as is the norm opposite the pedestrian gate and as we neared it, Mr Mitchell said: 'Best you learn your f------ place . . . you don’t run this f------ government . . . you’re f------ plebs.’ ”

The officer noted that members of the public looked “visibly shocked” by Mr Mitchell’s language and the Chief Whip was warned that he if he continued to swear he would be arrested under the Public Order Act.

The police record notes: “Mr Mitchell was then silent and left saying 'you haven’t heard the last of this’ as he cycled off.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...pleb-rant.html

He's admitted to being rude to the police, but denies the specific wording recorded by the police in their notebooks during the incident. The police officers concerned are adamant that the wording is accurate.