Plebgate Hijacked
Here's an interesting article on the Plebgate scandal which appeared in the Times the other day and contains serious 'whistleblowing' allegations about the conduct of the Police Federation and senior officers in the Metropolitan Police.
If you ask me there has to be a connection between the behaviour of the Diplomatic Protection Group (whom the whistleblowing officer says undermined the officers on the Downing Street gates) - and the subsequent behaviour of PC Keith Wallis who has been sent to prison for a year.
Equally disturbing is the claim that when the whistleblowing officer raised his concerns with senior colleagues at the Met, he was threatened with having his firearms permit removed (which would presumably have triggered a change in his duties) - thereby effectively shutting him up.
No wonder public confidence in the Met Police is dropping like a stone.
Truth about Plebgate by Downing St police officer
By Sean O’Neill and Francis Elliott
The Police Federation hijacked the Plebgate affair for its own political ends and betrayed the officers who were on duty at the Downing Street gates, a key witness to the incident told The Times.
Ian Richardson, one of the four officers on duty as the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, demanded to cycle through the gates, spoke for the first time about the confrontation which has shaken public confidence in policing.
His intervention comes a week after the head of Scotland Yard, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, attempted to draw a line under the incident by apologising to Mr Mitchell about the conduct of PC Keith Wallis, who was jailed for fabricating a witness account.
Mr Richardson’s account of the affair, in an interview published today, will also put pressure on the federation, which will have its role in the scandal debated by MPs tomorrow.
Mr Richardson, 50, who has retired from the Metropolitan Police, said he believed that Mr Mitchell called the officers “f*****g plebs” as claimed by one of his colleagues in the original police log. Mr Mitchell, the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield, denies the allegation.
The former officer added that:
· Mr Mitchell’s behaviour was officious and rude, but he did not deserve to lose his position in government over a “quirky incident that should have blown over”;
· The gate officers were undermined by colleagues in the Diplomatic Protection Group who leaked the log of the incident to the press and by the bizarre and peculiar actions of PC Wallis who e-mailed a false witness account to his constituency MP;
· The leadership of the Metropolitan Police failed the officers by concentrating on who leaked the story to the media rather than investigating what had happened and issuing a statement to clarify the incident;
· The media and MPs had wrongly portrayed Plebgate as a conspiracy to bring down Mr Mitchell.
Mr Richardson retired from the Met with an exemplary conduct record in October 2012 — a month after the Plebgate incident — after 30 years’ service. He has given three witness statements to Operation Alice, the inquiry into affair.
He said that neither he nor his three colleagues were involved in any conspiracy against Mr Mitchell. Only one of the four is facing misconduct proceedings. She is alleged to have failed to tell the inquiry that she had shown the original log to a colleague.
Mr Richardson was the first person to speak to the officer who claims he was sworn at by Mr Mitchell. He did not hear the exchange but said that PC Toby Rowland immediately recounted the contentious phrases and added that he had warned Mr Mitchell that he might have to arrest him.
Mr Richardson said: “I said ‘Write that down and ring the skipper because you just threatened to arrest the Chief Whip in Downing Street — there’s likely to be some problems’.”
When the story broke, federation officials took to the airwaves to condemn Mr Mitchell. Mr Richardson pleaded with senior officers to put the record straight, but was told that his views were “of no interest to anyone” and was threatened with having his firearms permit removed if he continued to raise his concerns.
When Mr Mitchell was again targeted by federation officials in the West Midlands and resigned a month later, Mr Richardson felt that the MP was being treated like tethered prey.
“I felt great sadness that it had cost Mr Mitchell his job.” The MP maintains that he was stitched up by the police and that the original log contains “three lying phrases”.
In a statement last November he said: “These three phrases attributed to me are completely untrue; they were made up and disseminated by a police officer.” The MP is suing The Sun for libel over its first report of the incident. PC Rowland is suing Mr Mitchell for libel. Five officers from the Diplomatic Protection Group are facing internal tribunals accused of gross misconduct.
The Police Federation hijacked the Plebgate affair for its own political ends and betrayed the officers who were on duty at the Downing Street gates, a key witness to the incident told The Times.
Ian Richardson, one of the four officers on duty as the former Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, demanded to cycle through the gates, spoke for the first time about the confrontation which has shaken public confidence in policing.
His intervention comes a week after the head of Scotland Yard, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, attempted to draw a line under the incident by apologising to Mr Mitchell about the conduct of PC Keith Wallis, who was jailed for fabricating a witness account.
Mr Richardson’s account of the affair, in an interview published today, will also put pressure on the federation, which will have its role in the scandal debated by MPs tomorrow.
Mr Richardson, 50, who has retired from the Metropolitan Police, said he believed that Mr Mitchell called the officers “f*****g plebs” as claimed by one of his colleagues in the original police log. Mr Mitchell, the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield, denies the allegation.
The former officer added that:
· Mr Mitchell’s behaviour was officious and rude, but he did not deserve to lose his position in government over a “quirky incident that should have blown over”;
· The gate officers were undermined by colleagues in the Diplomatic Protection Group who leaked the log of the incident to the press and by the bizarre and peculiar actions of PC Wallis who e-mailed a false witness account to his constituency MP;
· The leadership of the Metropolitan Police failed the officers by concentrating on who leaked the story to the media rather than investigating what had happened and issuing a statement to clarify the incident;
· The media and MPs had wrongly portrayed Plebgate as a conspiracy to bring down Mr Mitchell.
Mr Richardson retired from the Met with an exemplary conduct record in October 2012 — a month after the Plebgate incident — after 30 years’ service. He has given three witness statements to Operation Alice, the inquiry into affair.
He said that neither he nor his three colleagues were involved in any conspiracy against Mr Mitchell. Only one of the four is facing misconduct proceedings. She is alleged to have failed to tell the inquiry that she had shown the original log to a colleague.
Mr Richardson was the first person to speak to the officer who claims he was sworn at by Mr Mitchell. He did not hear the exchange but said that PC Toby Rowland immediately recounted the contentious phrases and added that he had warned Mr Mitchell that he might have to arrest him.
Mr Richardson said: “I said ‘Write that down and ring the skipper because you just threatened to arrest the Chief Whip in Downing Street — there’s likely to be some problems’.”
When the story broke, federation officials took to the airwaves to condemn Mr Mitchell. Mr Richardson pleaded with senior officers to put the record straight, but was told that his views were “of no interest to anyone” and was threatened with having his firearms permit removed if he continued to raise his concerns.
When Mr Mitchell was again targeted by federation officials in the West Midlands and resigned a month later, Mr Richardson felt that the MP was being treated like tethered prey.
“I felt great sadness that it had cost Mr Mitchell his job.” The MP maintains that he was stitched up by the police and that the original log contains “three lying phrases”.
In a statement last November he said: “These three phrases attributed to me are completely untrue; they were made up and disseminated by a police officer.” The MP is suing The Sun for libel over its first report of the incident. PC Rowland is suing Mr Mitchell for libel. Five officers from the Diplomatic Protection Group are facing internal tribunals accused of gross misconduct.
