I'm astonished by reactions to a recent encounter between Mr. Andrew Mitchell M.P. and a disobliging junior policeman.
I gather that when Mr. Mitchell was cycling away from Downing street, the policemen on duty refused to open the gate for him, demanding that, instead of cycling out, as he was accustomed to do, he should instead dismount and wheel his bicycle through a pedestrian gate.
I can think of no security matter that would justify that request; the main gate must be routinely opened for ministers in motor cars.
Perhaps the policeman in charge dislikes bicycles, or dislikes Mr. Mitchell, or was just lazy. Whichever it was, he deserved to be rebuked, demoted and re-assigned to some less important duty.
Much has been made of the word 'pleb' that Mr. Mitchell is alleged to have used. It is a word not much used these days; I think that I should have used 'oaf', 'lout' or 'thug', but people can't be expected to make nice linguistic distinctions in the heat of the moment.
Mr. Mitchell did not need to apologise and should not have done so.
On the other hand the police need to be taught that they are our servants, not our masters.
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I don't agree. I can imagine how annoying it must have been for the MP to find his way blocked by a policeman who refused to bow down to this superior being, but I suspect that the policeman had been given his orders and was sticking to the letter.
Apparently, the MP didn't just call the copper a 'pleb', but actually a 'fscking pleb', and sprinkled the rest of his conversation liberally with the F word. Not a gentleman, I fear.
We need to know more about this policeman. Is he, perhaps, a labour party member? His action seems surly at best, spiteful even. If a busy government chief whip is on his way out of Downing Street, Plod should open the fscking gate and shut up about it.
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