At the start of last week, Uncut predicted Andrew Mitchell’s demise. On Monday 15th October we said he would be gone on Thursday. In the event it turned out his departure was announced on Friday, though he actually made his decision to quit on Thursday.
Now, Uncut hears he is plotting his revenge.
It has been widely reported that he quit after concluding that he had lost the confidence of the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs. True. But this is only half of the story.
Andrew Mitchell had also concluded that, given the state of the media firestorm, he could not mount the robust defence needed to clear his name, while still chief whip.
He remains convinced that he has been the victim of a political hit job by the police federation. Friends of Mitchell say that despite the battering he took at the hands of the media, he will not give up.
More than his notorious temper or a desire for revenge, his primary motivation is his career. Andrew Mitchell is not prepared to accept this as the end.
In 1997, he was a rising star, destined for the cabinet when he lost his formerly safe seat in Gedling. That could have been it. Many others accepted their fate. But not Mitchell, he came back from that disaster, returned to parliament and made it into cabinet.
The former chief whip accepts it will be difficult, but he sees a route back to centre stage and is more determined than ever to get his side of the story across.
Mitchell’s defence will rest on a stopwatch.
He will compare the time it would have taken for the exchange, as recorded by the police in their log, with the time taken for the exchange as set out in his account.
The CCTV footage of the incident will demonstrate which of the two versions is nearest to reality. Friends of Mitchell say it is almost impossible for everything recorded by the police to have been said in the time he was at the gate.
Mitchell is waiting for the right time to strike back, letting the dust settle and giving space for the government and prime minister to move on from the disasters of last week.
When he launches his attack, Uncut hears that the former chief whip will have plenty of support from parliamentary colleagues who were less than forthcoming in backing him to keep his job.
The consensus on the Tory benches, and quietly on the Labour benches, is that the police federation over reached. There is a feeling that the federation are being led by the “Scargill tendency.”
Even among Labour MPs, many of whom busily retweet police federation attacks on the government, there is a deep fear of what this organisation could do to a Labour government.
Few in the house of commons will shed a tear if the police federation has its wings clipped as a result of Mitchell’s return to the fray.
Tags: #gategate, Andrew Mitchell, police federation, revenge
I’m not sure what revenge or how Mitchell feels he can take it out, and judging by this article this is speculation,
But I find it strange that teh 1976 Edmund Davies review that set up Police arbitration (something thatas Socialists we should be proud of) Concluded taht As the police can’t strike taht tehy should have an agreed with Inflation Pay rise, that for the next 28 years from 1978 was 3% then was supposed to be 2.5% in 2007 (yet we refused and only gave them 1.8% and for the last 2 and half years they’ve had A pay freeze, How the Governemnt can just abolish this without even giving teh polce teh chance to appeal remember the 1992 Sheehy reforms that were only slightly intoduced took away home allowances resulting in Polce being so underpaid that many who joined i the 90’s had to leave and It took us giving them a 9% pay rise in 1999 to stop the shortage in those who were joining,
when the Police wnet on strike in 1919 they were sacked, yet in 1996 IT was made illegal for the police to even look into the could TRY to overturn the idea that they could strike.
Recently the Govenment and London mayor have been looking into merging Both Youth Offender teams In council boorughs and specialist operations such as Squads set up to tackle gangs, But does the mayor feel that merging squads who tackle this have the same remit, Are the Yardie gangs saem as the sort of gangsters who feel their the Kray twins, do they deal with the same thigns, Drugs as oppsoed to people trafficking,?
It was a Political Attack by John Tully, the Met Fed and Jon Gaunt and Labour. Where is John Tully now? Very silent! The fact is, it was handled disgracefully and the Met Police were not only abused by Mitchell they were USED by their own Federation. And it’s those officers who will have to take the hit back!
Few in the house of commons will shed a tear if the police federation has its wings clipped as a result of Mitchell’s return to the fray.
—————–
The Tories are reaping what Thatcher sowed. The police expected to be the Tories’ special friends again. Labour should simply get out the popcorn & let both sides have-at-it.
Labour should criticise the Tories when they get things wrong but it needs to be done independently; using the Police Federation as a springboard would be a big mistake.
I think Mitchell has much better things to do than pursue his vendetta with the Police Federation, which he can’t possibly win. No, opportunity has now come to leave politics for The City and makde big bucks there.
I think Austin Mitchell is also for the chop after his sexist rant at Louise Mensch. And not before time too.
Not a Labour supporter but this is a sterling piece. Frighteningly accurate and insightful in hindsight!
Prediction spot on!
The Tories are learning what we knew all along – the police lie, fit people up, make up evidence.
We know the S06 PC, who lives in Reislip and has a nephew from Hong Kong is (allegedly) a liar – he admitted that he was not there.
We know the 2 S06 PCs, one male & one female (allegedly) falsified their logs to an extent – the CCTV doesn’t show “several people… visibly shocked”. It shows a single person who walks across then back who might possibly have seen or heard something, and 2 people walking across who take no interest whatever.
We know the police fed rep (allegedly) lied about his meeting, recorded by Andrew Mitchell.
If they can do it to a white male millionaire, what chance have the rest of us got?
If they can do it to a white male millionaire, what chance have the rest of us got?
> Yes I have seen it all my life at the top unfortunately. My father was a high ranking police officer, but the default position is to lie to the media whenever it is in their interests. This seriously undermines public confidence because they are usually not very good at it either. I do wish their was a way to employ the right sort of people.