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LONDON: The British cabinet minister forced to quit over claims he called Downing Street police officers ‘plebs’ claimed Sunday he had been ‘stitched up’ in his first full account of the furore.
Andrew Mitchell said abusive phrases attributed to him were ‘hung round my neck in a concerted effort to toxify the Conservative Party and destroy my political career’.
Mitchell who resigned in October as the government chief whip — charged with enforcing discipline among Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives — said he was hit with a ‘tsunami of vitriol’ following the incident.
Mitchell laid bare his account of the September 19 dispute and its aftermath in The Sunday Times newspaper, as he intensified efforts to clear his name and pave the way for a return to government.
Last week police opened an investigation into a possible conspiracy against the former international development secretary after it emerged an email from a civilian witness backing up the claims was in fact written by another officer.
‘Suddenly I realised I was being stitched up’, he told The Sunday Times.
Mitchell wrote in the broadsheet that he had been through the Downing Street front gates several times that week in September. ‘On this occasion the conversation with the police was as follows,’ he said.
‘Me: ‘Please open the gates.’
‘Police: ‘No. Please get off your bike and leave by the pedestrian exit.’ ‘Me: ‘Please open the gates, I am the chief whip; I work here at No. 9.’ ‘Police: ‘No, you have to get off your bike and wheel it out.’ ‘Me: ‘Look, I have already been in and out several times today. Please open the gates.’ ‘Police: ‘No.’ ‘With that I complied with the policeman’s request and wheeled my bike across the pavement and out through the pedestrian entrance. ‘As I did so, I muttered — though not directly at him — ‘I thought you guys were supposed to fucking help us.’
‘To which the policeman responded: ‘If you swear at me I will arrest you.’ Whereupon I cycled off. As I left, I think I said that I would pursue the matter further the next day.’
The alleged police log of the incident, leaked to newspapers, recorded Mitchell as saying: ‘Best you learn your fucking place. You don’t run this fucking government. You’re fucking plebs.’
The email seemingly backing up the police record was ‘larded with detail’ and ‘gave every appearance of being designed to stand up the police log’, Mitchell wrote. ‘It was completely untrue. I was devastated.
This was a stitch-up. ‘I now know a good deal more about that email and how calculatedly dishonest it is.
Andrew Mitchell said abusive phrases attributed to him were ‘hung round my neck in a concerted effort to toxify the Conservative Party and destroy my political career’.
Mitchell who resigned in October as the government chief whip — charged with enforcing discipline among Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives — said he was hit with a ‘tsunami of vitriol’ following the incident.
Mitchell laid bare his account of the September 19 dispute and its aftermath in The Sunday Times newspaper, as he intensified efforts to clear his name and pave the way for a return to government.
Last week police opened an investigation into a possible conspiracy against the former international development secretary after it emerged an email from a civilian witness backing up the claims was in fact written by another officer.
‘Suddenly I realised I was being stitched up’, he told The Sunday Times.
Mitchell wrote in the broadsheet that he had been through the Downing Street front gates several times that week in September. ‘On this occasion the conversation with the police was as follows,’ he said.
‘Me: ‘Please open the gates.’
‘Police: ‘No. Please get off your bike and leave by the pedestrian exit.’ ‘Me: ‘Please open the gates, I am the chief whip; I work here at No. 9.’ ‘Police: ‘No, you have to get off your bike and wheel it out.’ ‘Me: ‘Look, I have already been in and out several times today. Please open the gates.’ ‘Police: ‘No.’ ‘With that I complied with the policeman’s request and wheeled my bike across the pavement and out through the pedestrian entrance. ‘As I did so, I muttered — though not directly at him — ‘I thought you guys were supposed to fucking help us.’
‘To which the policeman responded: ‘If you swear at me I will arrest you.’ Whereupon I cycled off. As I left, I think I said that I would pursue the matter further the next day.’
The alleged police log of the incident, leaked to newspapers, recorded Mitchell as saying: ‘Best you learn your fucking place. You don’t run this fucking government. You’re fucking plebs.’
The email seemingly backing up the police record was ‘larded with detail’ and ‘gave every appearance of being designed to stand up the police log’, Mitchell wrote. ‘It was completely untrue. I was devastated.
This was a stitch-up. ‘I now know a good deal more about that email and how calculatedly dishonest it is.
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