No Winners?
The editorial columns in most of the national newspapers, like this one from The Independent, took the view that there were 'no winners' from the Plebgate affair which is true in the sense that just about everyone involved came out badly damaged, in one way or the other.
But in terms of the court battle Andrew Mitchell, self-evidently, came off worst while the police officer at the centre of the row and The Sun newspaper were both vindicated which is the nature of these 'winner takes all' libel cases.
The amazing thing is that such a trivial incident can have done so much harm over the past two years including the Metropolitan Police Force which ended up sacking four serving officers for their role in the affair (one of whom was sent to prison as well) and the Police Federation (police trade union) which had bruising public encounters with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons.
Like a previous Conservative cabinet minister, Andrew Mitchell sought to deploy the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play against the British media, and he lost. The judge in Mr Mitchell’s libel case was clear that he had indeed used the much-disputed and endlessly discussed term “pleb”. Thus has “Plebgate” been settled.
In truth, no one emerges with great credit from this curious episode. Mr Mitchell, the bicycling Chief Whip with a quick temper, has lost his job in government and will not now regain it. He may lose his Commons seat, one way or another.
It is a shame, because he was a committed International Development Secretary, and retains a keen interest in the welfare of those in the poorest places on earth.
His fate proves that, were it ever an acceptable way to behave, such arrogance is not to be tolerated in modern Britain, and, as with David Mellor’s taxi ride, ubiquitous CCTV and recording devices make tantrums by the rich and powerful more hazardous.
In its way the denouement to Plegbate is a refreshingly egalitarian moment, a sort of last rite for a mostly already vanished national habit of deference. Yet the police should not regard the judgment as some sort of unalloyed triumph. Though PC Toby Rowland – the officer at the centre of Mr Mitchell’s suit – was described by the judge as lacking the imagination to concoct a conspiracy, and his respectability and his innocence were commended, it remains true that elements of the force behaved far less admirably during this saga.
Such a silly row should have been settled quietly and privately. Exaggeration, hype and hysteria were lavished on a bit of bad language at the gates of Downing Street; a moral panic made of really very little. If it proves one useful thing, it is the old adage that you should always try to be nice to people when you are on the way up….
