A constable is now known to have falsely claimed he witnessed Andrew Mitchell’s encounter with two other officers in Downing Street when he is alleged to have called them ‘f***ing plebs’.
And CCTV footage screened by Channel 4 News last night cast doubt on the widely-publicised police version of the incident on the evening of September 19.Ooops! Cue frantic spinning from those who pinned their hopes of unseating the government on this.
But on the bright side, suddenly there's a new found respect for what the public thinks, at least!
*settles down with huge box of popcorn*
20 comments:
I think it's reasonable to say that this affair might be the first loose end which, when and if pulled, destroys the garment.
Surely, It is now Plodgate...
Isn't it strange that this CCTV footage was available all the time yet neither Mitchell or any of his colleagues provided it? Isn't it strange that a CCTV system covering the entrance to the most heavily guarded mews in Britain would concentrate on a side gate and not the main one? Isn't it strange that the camera appears to 'follow' and zoom in on Mitchell, as if it's being purposely operated by a human being? Isn't it strange that there is no CCTV footage made public of the period immediately before the side gate is opened and Michell walks out? Isn't it strange that Mitchell claims there was no one outside the gates at the time of the incident to be offended or shocked yet the footage clearly shows people walking by?
I am content to accept the word of a policeman when his colleagues insist he is a liar.
It is a pity that the Police Federation, Inspector Gadget, and many commenters on his blog, chose to make this story about Winsor, kept the story alive until Mitchell resigned, and then gloated about the resignation. These were their choices, nobody else's.
The police officer who has been caught lying ran a classic media hoax: we believed him because he told us something that we wanted to be true.
We're now into damage limitation. Inspector Gadget has removed all his posts on Plebgate from his archives, and is now bemoaning the fact that "The Conservatives and the police [have fallen] out of love." Yeah, right.
I hope that in victory the Government will show a degree of magnanimity that was sorely lacking from the police themselves when they thought they had got Andrew Mitchell "bang to rights".
I haven't been over to Gadget's blog but I assume that he is telling us that Andrew Mitchell-gate shows us that all coppers must be armed.
How sadly predictable.
I just went over to Gadget's blog and guess what it was absolutely full of contradictions and non-sequiturs. He glosses over the fact that at least one of his cartoon heroes stone-cold lied, he implies that making stuff up about ministers is fine if your pension is under threat and of course he can't resist saying that "we are *still* un-armed".
Do you think anyone ever tells him how bad he makes his profession look? I sometimes wonder whether he is actually a Walt.
@Blue Eyes
Do you think anyone ever tells him how bad he makes his profession look?
I made a comment to this effect, on his fourth Plebgate story in September, but the message did not get across. IG has now deleted that story.
The best thing he could do to support the interests of the police, including their pension rights, would be to delete the entire blog. IG himself is often thoughtful and a step ahead of the rest of us, but the majority of comments do not show the police in a good light.
This will run and run.As Mitchell said (allegedly) "You haven't heard the last of this!".
If the PC lied about being there then throw the book at him.
If anyone out there knows DPG officers-then you will agree that they are the weariest PC's you could ever meet.Rarely does anything exciting ever happen,and when it does they talk it to death.Being sworn at by an MP is a big event in their very dull existence and i'm sure it would have been documented accurately. Mitchell did admit this after all.
Who wins when this government have destroyed the police force? Shareholders of G4S and their board,which will consist of Tory politicians who lose their seats in 2015.Oh yes criminals as well.Not the law-abiding general public.
@ James K
That Gadget is a male police officer, presents two assumptions for separate debate on another occasion. There can be no doubting the blog's function as a clubhouse for dim, easily led and angry plod. However, it is the conspicuous absence of bright police contributions to Gadget, which rings alarm bells and this should alert the reader to great caution in the acceptance of anything at face value.
"Do you think anyone ever tells him how bad he makes his profession look?"
Having posted the equivalent sentiments which were speedily deleted or misrepresented, it seems reasonable to test the hypothesis that the blog's raison d'être is to undermine police.
Just one bad apple...
So how many is that now?
Having posted the equivalent sentiments which were speedily deleted or misrepresented, it seems reasonable to test the hypothesis that the blog's raison d'être is to undermine police.
Hmmm. That's an interesting suggestion; however, I don't believe it. I don't read every post, but I've never seen a serving officer call BS on the blog. If IG has ever suggested that a commenter is an agent provocateur posing as a policeman, I missed that too.
I think that the author is either a serving police officer, or works closely with one. Neither he/she nor the commenters are uncomfortable with the banter. This suggests that it is similar to what you might hear in a police station. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I have never seen anyone comment that this is not the case.
You may be right however that the commenters are skewed towards the dim and angry. The bright and placid have better things to do with their time than follow a workplace blog.
The danger in the present case is that the government is looking for excuses to screw the police over. By showing us the unpleasant side of some of his colleagues, and by playing politics (and failing), IG has provided an extra excuse or two. I think this was unintentional, and not the blog's raison d'être.
The tragedy is that no one wins if the police are undermined. Who wants this except the criminals and a couple of government ministers?
"I think it's reasonable to say that this affair might be the first loose end which, when and if pulled, destroys the garment."
Possibly. Or - given the season - it might all be forgotten by the weekend...
"Isn't it strange that..."
Oh, there's a lot of things that are strange about this whole brouhaha.
"We're now into damage limitation. Inspector Gadget has removed all his posts on Plebgate from his archives..."
How fortuitous!
"I haven't been over to Gadget's blog but I assume that he is telling us that Andrew Mitchell-gate shows us that all coppers must be armed."
Heh!!
"Do you think anyone ever tells him how bad he makes his profession look?"
The removal of all Plebgate posts infers he's got a good idea now.
"If anyone out there knows DPG officers-then you will agree that they are the weariest PC's you could ever meet.Rarely does anything exciting ever happen,and when it does they talk it to death.Being sworn at by an MP is a big event in their very dull existence and i'm sure it would have been documented accurately. Mitchell did admit this after all."
And if it had been left at that, there's be no issue. It's never the actual act that hangs you, it's always the coverup or obfuscation afterwards.
You'd think everyone would know that by now.
"Just one bad apple...
So how many is that now?"
Given we only supposedly need one, it's an embarrassment of riches, to be sure...
"You may be right however that the commenters are skewed towards the dim and angry. The bright and placid have better things to do with their time than follow a workplace blog."
The number of other, calmer heads in my blogroll that rarely show up over there shows you might be right.
Quote from Cockney Copper, a typical Gadget specimen:
"....‘They’ is a pleural and should be followed by ‘were’ not ‘was’.
‘Hitler’ is a proper noun and therefore begins with a capital letter. I may be a pleb, but at least I bothered attending my primary school grammer lessons."
And I robustly defend this pleb's entitlement to be known as such.
http://raedwald.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/plodgate-evidence.html
The log reports that there were several people outside the gate overhearing this awful tirade. The CCTV shows there was a lone passer-by.
The point is, Jaded, that they lied.
And mixing the debate up about police reform and pensions is bad form. If I'm having a tough time at work I don't go around lying about the senior management to make myself feel better and if I did I wouldn't try and justify it by crying that I haven't had a payrise for five years.
@ Blue Eyes
Let's not be too hard on Jaded; a public spirited individual who would still be a brain donor if the stench hadn't made nurses feel queasy.
I'll have you know I've made several comments on Gadget's site Julia!
What? Pardon? Oh... the CALMER heads.....right...
*wanders off, muttering*
Let's see how this pans out shall we before we all rush to judgement.The CCTV looks edited to me.
MTG on top form today.Rubbing his hands with glee.
All this over an unopened gate.
And who really cares anyway ?
Police/Politician.
Neither career is one where a truthful person would willingly be found.
And you're all wrong anyway, the only losers are us...not the politicians and not the police. Us.
The politicians have their personal police service. The police have themselves. Who have we got at 4 in the morning when we wake and realise there is someone standing near the bed ?
Anon @ 20:04
Profoundly honest and sweet.
We have ourselves and the certainty of a destitute legacy from a long-lived and corrupt Establishment.
Post a Comment