The MP who abused the police officer

Our conclusion is that there is no policeman in the entire world who lies in the line of duty. That’s why we believe when they say Police had to shoot a suspect in handcuffs who tried to escape. Also kill another, when a similar culprit tries to harm an officer on the way to find a weapons hideout with him. That’s why we never believe when someone with no previous criminal record accuses police officers that they planted some heroin or ganja in his car and tried to put him in trouble.

Anyway, after a hectic fortnight of talking about Princess Kate’s nudity the media and the people have to decide a who is lying, between a son of a former Member of Parliament, Cambridge educated, government Chief Whip and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Rt. Hon Andrew Mitchell, Member of the Parliament for Sutton Cold field or an ordinary policeman who was on duty at the main gates of the Prime Minister’s official residence at Downing Street.

Andrew Mitchell was appointed Chief Whip only on September 4, three weeks ago. No matter how big he is, he rides his push bicycle to Parliament and around London. The reasons for riding a bicycle in London by a person like him could be due to many reasons. One is the heavy congestion around Parliament. The other is that he is very concerned about the environment. (Please also note that there is no official vehicle for him provided by the government. Only the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have official vehicles assigned for them. Others have to get one from the vehicle pool when needed.)

Prime Minister’s residence

When bicycle riding Andrew tried to enter the Prime Minister’s residence last week he requested the policewoman on duty to open the main gates for him. The female police officer told Mitchell, who insisted that he always cycled through the gates, that it was not policy to open the gates for cyclists and asked him to use the pedestrian gate. After several refusals a police officer accompanied him to the side gate. Andrew got off his bike, walked to the pedestrian gate and snapped and said 'best you learn your f****** place … you don't run this f******* government … You're f******* plebs'."

When he behaved like that the police officer told Andrew Mitchell that he would have to arrest him if he continued to swear at him.

Police log

The police log also reports Mitchell as saying "you haven't heard the last of this" as he left on his bike.

The media had its hay day. Every TV channel, every radio channel gave prominence to the news that the government Chief Whip had used abusive language on a police officer who refused to open the gates for him. The incident took the space of main headlines of the next day newspapers. Requests to sack the MP flooded the main lines of Downing Street. The government panicked. Prime Minister Cameron requested the Secretary to the Cabinet Sir Jeremy Heywood and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to make inquiries. As there was no official complaint apart from the log note officer made, they decided not to take the matter further and ruled out a full investigation.

In a letter to the shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, Heywood said he had agreed with Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met Commissioner, that there was no need for an investigation because no complaint had been received.

Andrew met the police officer concerned and apologised to him and also to the police force as a whole. But he denies using the word ‘plebs’.

But the Sun newspaper which had access to the police log said ‘the log quotes Mitchell referring to the police as 'plebs'.

The publication of the log is likely to increase pressure on the Chief Whip to offer a fuller account of the incident. In private, he has admitted swearing in the presence of the officers. But he is adamant that he did not describe the officers as ‘plebs’. John Tully, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said earlier that by denying he had called the officers plebs, Mitchell was in effect accusing the officers of lying. "Clearly Mr Mitchell is denying using certain words, effectively now impugning the integrity of the police officers. I think that is very serious. I think the Prime Minister or Downing Street officials should hold an inquiry, and if Mr Mitchell is proved to have lied, he should be sacked".

In his letter to Cooper, Heywood wrote: "In the light of the apology given, and also the fact that the officer concerned has accepted the apology and does not wish to pursue the matter further, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner reiterated that no further action would be taken. Given these circumstances, neither the Prime Minister nor I see any purpose in a further investigation."

Wrong doing

An opinion poll for the Guardian found the Public is twice as likely to trust the Police than they are the government. A Sun poll suggested that 79 percent trust Police more than the government.

Jeremy Browne, the Home Office Minister, told the BBC: "Explaining to the media what was not said is not the same as explaining to the media what was said.

So there is a sense of all the loose ends not being tied up."

Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Lib Dem leader, said: "If Andrew Mitchell's determination was to draw two lines under this matter, he hasn't achieved that. The government Chief Whip, who has got a lot of responsibilities, is not yet able to say unequivocally what it was he said and to frame his apology around that. Until that is done, I am afraid this story still has legs." Unfortunately for Mitchell the matter is not over yet.

There is a growing pressure on the government to take action against the MP. United Kingdom is not a place where politicians can get away with any form of wrong doing. No matter how big the position you are holding or how close you are to the leadership. No one can survive the public pressure enlarged by the media in the United Kingdom.