Gategate: Andrew Mitchell fails to deny calling police ‘plebs’

Chief Whip’s statement to the press falls well short of the denial expected. This could run and run

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

ANDREW MITCHELL has poured fuel onto the fire of ‘gategate’ by giving a statement to the press that fell well short of the expected denial that he used the devastating put-down “f***ing plebs” to the police.

Talking to the press outside the gates of Downing Street, through which Mitchell was forced to wheel his bicycle like a normal pleb last Wednesday evening by the police guards he had allegedly insulted, the Chief Whip reiterated his previous statement that “I did not use the words attributed to me".

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is the pseudonym for a London-based political consultant who writes exclusively for The Week.co.uk.