David Cameron: Andrew Mitchell is owed apology by police over Plebgate affair

 
Andrew Mitchell received an apology from Scotland Yard over the claims
Joseph Watts16 October 2013

David Cameron today said that former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell was “owed an apology” by police over the Plebgate affair.

In a dramatic Commons attack, the Prime Minister accused three officers of giving an “untrue” account of a meeting with the former Tory chief whip last year.

Mr Cameron also told MPs that the Home Affairs Select Committee should question the chief constable whose force’s investigation cleared the officers of wrongdoing. Mayor Boris Johnson backed Home Secretary Theresa May’s call for the officers to face disciplinary action.

But West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Bob Jones, accused Mr Cameron and his ministers of being in a “Westminster club” that was intent on working against front-line officers. In September last year Mr Mitchell was accused of calling Met officers “f***ing plebs” after they refused to open a Downing Street gate for him.

He denied using the word but agreed to meet three representatives of the Police Federation. The officers gave media interviews in which it was claimed they misrepresented what Mr Mitchell had told them.

The Prime Minister said: “The former chief whip had a meeting with Police Federation officers in his constituency when he gave a full account of what happened.

“They left that meeting and claimed he had given them no account at all. Fortunately this meeting was recorded and so he has been able to prove that what he said was true and what the police officers said was untrue.” He went on: “Mr Mitchell is owed an apology, the conduct of these officers is not acceptable.”

Mr Cameron was speaking in response to a question from Home Affairs Select Committee chair Keith Vaz, who said the incident went “to the heart” of the police’s integrity.

But Mr Jones told the BBC: “It’s more a question of the Westminster club against people who are administering policing on the ground.”

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Earlier former Home Secretary Jack Straw claimed the officers had “embroidered the truth” over the Plebgate affair in an attempt to “get the scalp of a Conservative cabinet minister”.

Mr Straw attacked their behaviour as “completely inappropriate”.

Senior Conservative MP David Davis said it was another case, along with Hillsborough and the death of Jean-Charles de Menezes, in which there were concerns over police “telling the truth”.

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