General News Plebgate - the saga continues

For those who managed to miss this ongoing drama, heres as brief a summary as I can manage:

1. A UK MP (Andrew Mitchell) was refused use of a certain gate in Downing Street by the police
2. A brief altercation occurred with an exchange of words, where one of the policemen maintained Mr Mitchell had referred to him as a "pleb" (derogatory word denoting being common). The police maintained that this was a criminal offence.
3. It was widely reported in the press and Mr Mitchell was forced to resign from his role
4. A lengthy public enquiry ensued at the taxpayers expense and the police officer involved and the policeforce faced harsh criticism for supposedly acting with misconduct and framing a member of parliament (the PO allegedly made it all up, and the Met allegedly helped cover this up)
5. Mr Mitchell sued the press for libel, and the police officer simultaneously sued Mr Mitchell for Libel
6. Still keeping up?! AND NOW (*drumroll*): A high court judge has ruled that in fact Mt Mitchell did utter the word "pleb" because the police officer was "too stupid" to make up that term (ironically some may say thats a rather libelous remark in itself! :lol and so he will have to pay the police officer a massive amount of damages for that libel: Andrew Mitchell

Dear lord this thing has dragged on! And has cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds. All over ONE WORD. I swear you could turn this into a John Grisham style Hollywood film!

Now you know what, I have some sympathy for Mr Mitchell on this one. Firstly because I think this was blown way out of proportion and Mitchell's trial-by-media and forced resignation was particularly unpleasant. Secondly because I think the police involved needed to get a grip. I've been called far worse than "pleb" (a quite minor term) whilst at work - I haven't got the police involved because thats quite simply wasting police time, they should be cracking on with bigger issues. If anything the police officer is guilty himself of wasting police time and that should balance out any wrongdoing from Mr Mitchell.

And now Mr Mitchell has lost his job and well over £1million. The police officer gets his job back and a hefty lumpsum. And the taxpayers, well, who cares about us?

 

Even if that costs the taxpayer more, I'd actually be fully in support of that for the sheer hilarity of the irony. :lol:

It would just be the most brilliantly British way to end this farce (a farce to end the farce!), like something out of Monty Python or The Thick of It. Go for it Mr Policeman! Your country needs you!

 

I think for a bit of profanity, a public apology, a fine and a caution would be being "deservedly punished".

Losing your job due to a media storm really seems overkill.

Its the law yes, but I think its utterley ridiculous.

Having previously worked in a call centre dealing with people in dire circumstances (and quick to anger) I've had my fair share of verbal abuse thrown my way on the line, sometimes a LOT more serious than this police officer faced (intensely derogatory). If I phoned the police after each call and said "excuse me officer, this man called me a :***:, can you go and arrest him please?" I'd either be laughed at or arrested myself for wasting police time - not to mention I'd lose my own job for wasting my employer's time too. And so I really don't see why police officers deserve protection above that a normal person would receive.

And to be honest, I'd expect policemen (the guys supposedly keeping me safe from dangerous criminals) to have thicker skin and be less easily provoked by a swear word than I would be. If they are capable of being shaken or angered so much by a single word how are they going to cope with an armed gunman?

For that police officer deciding to take this one minor slur (not a threat) further (severely wasting police resources when police are cut short as it is) when it really wasn't necessary to, he is in the wrong as much as Mitchell.

For fairness sake I'll put myself in the policeman's shoes. Lets say I'm a police officer doing a quite important job and someone calls me a faggot. Would I arrest them on the spot or report them? Yes I'd be within my rights to, but no, no I would not. I would tell them they need to stop and calm down, explain the law to them, and only if they continued or began using threatening language would I proceed to take matters further.

 

Perhaps, but how do we know it was being used in the sense of "I'm upper class and your not" or "I'm richer than you"? Is it just because he's a Tory and so "must be a snob" - even as a Tory hater I think thats a bit harsh to come to that conclusion without knowing Mr Mitchell.

Growing up, pleb was a very common insult even in my working class area - it was just a replacement for idiot, imbecile or moron (not exactly the most cutting insults) - it does not necessarily bring class into it.

---------- Post added 29th Nov 2014 at 03:30 AM ----------

Thats the problem I have.

I think in most instances the police wouldn't exercise this power (they'd deal with it in a different manner - giving a caution etc), and the police essentially decided to make an example out of him.

Perhaps theres an element of the police officer wanting revenge - the conservatives generally aren't popular amongst the police force (particularly after the budget cuts). Call me cynical but I think there was definitely an element of "lets get one over on this prick" or "lets teach him a lesson".