Mitchell under pressure amid police 'abuse' row

UK Political Correspondent

Tuesday 25 September 2012

CHIEF Whip Andrew Mitchell has been reported to Westminster's standards tsar amid claims he swore at police officers and called them "plebs".

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Kate Devlin UK Political Correspondent

Labour has asked Sir John Lyon to investigate whether the Tory MP has broken the Code of Conduct for MPs, but David Cameron has so far resisted calls for him to order an inquiry.

The move followed a day of renewed scrutiny of the Conservative politician after he provoked fury by appearing to accuse officers of lying and claiming the incident had taken place following a difficult day.

Mr Mitchell has apologised to the police involved but denied using the words attributed to him in Downing Street last Wednesday. However, he has so far refused to publicly go into specifics about what he did and did not say. Amid farcical scenes, he yesterday made his first public appearance since the scandal broke last Friday. Just minutes before he arrived, Coalition sources told reporters that he would not be making a statement. When he did, he appeared to make the situation worse, incensing police leaders by making clear that he did not accept media reports of what he had said. John Tully, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, criticised Mr Mitchell, saying he was effectively accusing the officers involved of lying. Mr Mitchell also appeared to make excuses for his actions – before describing the incident as inexcusable. "It had been the end of a long and extremely frustrating day, " he said. "Not that that is any excuse at all for what happened. I didn't show the police the amount of respect I should have." Asked whether he had used the word "plebs", he said: "I want to make it absolutely clear that I did not use the words that have been attributed to me."Chief Superintendent Irene Curtis, president-elect of the Police Superintendents' Association, added: "By saying he disputes what the officer has said, he's actually calling into question the officer's integrity, and for a police officer that's a very serious matter."Downing Street denied that there was any need for a further inquiry. Mr Cameron's spokesman said: "We have not received any formal complaint from the Metropolitan Police Service and the Prime Minister thinks we should draw a line under it."

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Mitchell under pressure amid police 'abuse' row

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