To Pleb Or Not To Pleb? That Is The Question

Last updated on March 14th, 2019 at 02:26 pm

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Make no mistake, this bad been a very bad week for the Police Service. A Weekus Horribilis.

Like, I suspect, most of you I have absolutely no idea what the truth of the Plebgate matter is, but I also suspect that we haven’t heard it yet.

In my last post here I expressed my views on Deborah Glass’ ill-judged (or possibly deliberate) comments on the West Mercia investigation and I won’t repeat them today.

Since I wrote that piece three more things have come to my attention which may have no significance at all, or may just muddy the waters further.

1)  Our good old friends the Mail published this nice little paragraph “Theresa May last night called on a chief constable to apologise after an explosive report suggested senior officers had lied to blacken the name of former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell.”  Were the three Federation Representatives really “Senior Officers” One is an Inspector, at least one a Sergeant I believe, and not sure about the third.  They sure as hell weren’t what I would call Senior Officers or they wouldn’t be in the Fed (Ch Inspectors maybe).  An attempt by Cruella to make it sound even worse? Or just my imagination running amok again?.

2)  I read in the Huffington Post, a most reliable publication I’m sure, that Michael Portillo no less claims that he has heard Andrew Mitchell MP use the word Pleb in a private conversation, but he did not believe it was something the former chief whip would have said in public.

Well that made me sit up and take notice.  After all his protestations maybe it IS a word he might have used. Doubt now enters the equation, but who will get the benefit of it?

3)  Yesterday our allies at the BBC waded into the debate and published an article in which Portillo claims that he ‘Misspoke” in his previous comments. Who on earth uses that word?

“In a live discussion on the BBC’s This Week, Mr Portillo revealed: “I have heard him use that word in private conversation – the pleb word, I mean.”

But he now says he got “carried away”.

Pressed on the This Week programme on Thursday about whether he had heard Mr Mitchell use the word, Mr Portillo said: “I think I did, but not in a bad context.

“Some policeman thought: ‘Ah, that’s a word that people will believe that Andrew Mitchell might have used.’

“But he wouldn’t have used it in that context.”

On Friday, the former Conservative cabinet minister added: “I seem to have misspoken. I had no right to say that.

“I think I got carried away in the heat of the moment. I did not mean to say it and I want to withdraw it.””

To me, Portillo has always come across as Mr Calm and Composed. Is he really the type of man to have got carried away in the heat of the moment in a live TV debate? He’s always on our screens FFS, you can’t get away from him.

Or are these the words of a man who has been got to by the Tory machine and ebgaging ina bit of Damage Limitation, and trying to unsay the said?

All I know for sure that this has developed into one of the most important eras for Policing in general and 4 Police Forces in particular.

The arrogant twats won’t back off, Mitchell steadfastly refuses to enlighten us what he did actually say apart from agreeing to one use of the F word, and every man and his dog seems intent on besmirching the reputation of a once proud service.  I for one refuse to believe in a Federation Conspiracy, that would be brave, foolhardy, and totally corrupt.

Hard-hitting politicos have been bashing the Police for years now and I absolutely dread to think what Camoron’s final solution will be.  I fear greatly for the future of the Police Service and if there has indeed been a conspiracy, who orchestrated it. The Police? The Federation? Or the Tories?

Enjoy your weekend, I’m sure there’s more to come out yet.

And the answer to one person on Twatter is “Yes, I am bored of #Plebgate too, but somehow that seems to be the point. The Government and their shady allies seem to keep coming up with ways to keep it in the public eye, so that we will get bored with it, and maybe they’re hoping that any sympathies might shift away from the Police Service as the boredom factor grows.”

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3 thoughts on “To Pleb Or Not To Pleb? That Is The Question”

  1. Alan,
    You did say you were sure there was more to come out! Not quite what you meant but the week has only just begun! The good old Daily Mail couldn’t help themselves, or more like they are doing someones ‘bidding’ and print a PCC view.
    There’s nothing like a hidden agenda and this is nothing like a hidden agenda! WTF is going on!!!
    dk

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2468184/Crime-tsar-savages-feral-police-force-Plebgate-scandal-shows-officers-politicised-says-commissioner.html

    1. Thanks David,

      Mr Salmon is not an Independent PCC, he is a Tory, and as such seems to adhere closely to the Tory line.

      He has released a statement enlarging upon the above article which can be read here

      http://www.christophersalmon.org/mail-sunday-full-text/

      He has also, previously, written an article which resulted in him being accused of politicising the Police, which can be read here

      http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2013/10/christopher-salmon-police-crime-commissioners-real-progress-one-year-on.html

      Mr Salmon has already come to the attention of Angry Towers and may well find himself as the subject of a blog once my FOI requests are answered.

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