BBC News is today saying that a Police Complaints Commission report states that there has not been a proper inquiry into the ‘Plebgate’ row, in which MP and former Tory Chief Whip resigned over accusations that he had called police ‘f***ing plebs’.
Watch as Tory spin doctors try to make this statement mean that the police did wrong and Mr Mitchell is ‘exonerated’ (as was already claimed months ago when no such thing was true). But that’s not what it means at all – it’s a criticism of process, not of the facts or otherwise of the case.
Mr Mitchell has previously claimed that footage shows there was no opportunity for him to have had a row with police – but, as this analysis demonstrates, the footage shows nothing of the sort, and supports the police account rather than undermining it.
Please spread the word again, to get ahead of…
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Mike Sivier's blog 
The problem for the police with the video footage is that it contradicts a crucial bit of evidence against Mitchell; the police claimed they’d received an email from someone who had been in a crowd of tourists outside the Downing Street gates and had seen Mitchell’s outburst. The contents of the email supported the police version of what happened, leaving Mitchell in an untenable position. However, when the CCTV footage was analysed in December, it showed that there had been no crowd of tourists outside the gate at the time of the argument. It later emerged that the email had been written and sent by a policeman working in the Diplomatic Protection Group i.e. the very officers who guard the gates in Downing Street. And he was NOT on duty there on the evening of the argument.
Sure, Mitchell’s an unpleasant guy, and I certainly feel no urge to defend him, but there is PLENTY in ‘Plebgate’ to undermine confidence in the police.
Clearly, you haven’t been paying much attention to this story… Why is it that you refer to the absence of ‘crowds’?