Was Plebgate a Stitch-up?

This morning Andrew Marr asked Damian Green, the Minister for Policing, if Andrew Mitchell had been "stitched up". Damian refused to give his opinion because the CPS investigations are still taking place. I don't mind giving mine and the answer is yes. As with most questions the answer is not quite that simple. There may have been a stitch up but you can only do this to someone who has done something wrong. You can't sting people who don't fall for the sting. One of my favourite political phases is (with tongue firmly in cheek) that if you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear. Well maybe civil rights are more important than trite phrases.

I wrote about Andrew Mitchell at the time of Plebgate and I have heard nothing to change my mind on anything that I wrote then. It may well be that the CPS decide that some police officers have done something wrong but Andrew Mitchell is still not smelling of roses. Our faith in the police service is important and so is faith in politicians. The main point in Plebgate concerns how some politicians view the police but on another level, wouldn't it be nice to hear something about the importance of civil rights.

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