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The man who definately did not call the policeman a pleb -
Andrew Mitchell 'probably called police plebs', judge rules.
Ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell probably did call police officers "plebs", a High Court judge has said as he rejected a libel case against the Sun.
Mr Justice Mitting said the Tory MP's behaviour was "childish" and that his version of events was inconsistent with CCTV footage of the row with PC Toby Rowland in Downing Street in 2012.
Mr Mitchell, who may face costs of £2m, said he was "bitterly disappointed".
A police officer who accompanied Mr Mitchell on two foreign trips says the former cabinet minister was "unpleasant until he got what he wanted". Insp Duncan Johnston, who travelled with the then international development secretary in 2011, tells the court Mr Mitchell would "erupt" but later be charming. Separately, two former Conservative whips state in written evidence that Mr Mitchell had been unable to recall the exact words he had used in the days and weeks after the event.
Michael Fabricant, another former whip and fellow Conservative MP who gave evidence during the trial, told the BBC his colleague could have kept his job if he had apologised.
"If only he'd shown a little more humility at the time all this could have been avoided," Mr Fabricant said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30235009
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24548645
The man who definately did not call the policeman a pleb -
Andrew Mitchell 'probably called police plebs', judge rules.
Ex-chief whip Andrew Mitchell probably did call police officers "plebs", a High Court judge has said as he rejected a libel case against the Sun.
Mr Justice Mitting said the Tory MP's behaviour was "childish" and that his version of events was inconsistent with CCTV footage of the row with PC Toby Rowland in Downing Street in 2012.
Mr Mitchell, who may face costs of £2m, said he was "bitterly disappointed".
A police officer who accompanied Mr Mitchell on two foreign trips says the former cabinet minister was "unpleasant until he got what he wanted". Insp Duncan Johnston, who travelled with the then international development secretary in 2011, tells the court Mr Mitchell would "erupt" but later be charming. Separately, two former Conservative whips state in written evidence that Mr Mitchell had been unable to recall the exact words he had used in the days and weeks after the event.
Michael Fabricant, another former whip and fellow Conservative MP who gave evidence during the trial, told the BBC his colleague could have kept his job if he had apologised.
"If only he'd shown a little more humility at the time all this could have been avoided," Mr Fabricant said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30235009
and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24548645
