David Davis comments on Operation Alice report into ‘Plebgate’ across the papers

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As published in The Daily Mail
Police accused of ‘industrial levels of dishonesty’ over Plebgate as Scotland Yard releases previously-unseen CCTV footage

Downing Street police officers were accused of ‘industrial levels of dishonesty’ today after a new report on the ‘Plebgate’ scandal was published by Scotland Yard.

According to the report one armed police officer on duty in Downing Street on the night of the row texted a colleague to say she could ‘topple the Tory government’.

The new evidence reveals the extent to which police ‘conspired’ to destroy former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell’s career, the Metropolitan Police’s deputy assistant commissioner Patricia Gallan admitted.

Mr Mitchell was accused of calling police officers ‘f****** plebs’ after they refused to let him push his bike through the main gates in Downing Street on September 19, 2012. The Tory MP admits swearing, but vehemently denies ever calling the police officers ‘plebs’.

Previously-unseen CCTV images of the Plebgate row reveal that a passer-by witnessed the confrontation between police and Mr Mitchell.

The man, who is clearly seen following the exchange, has never been traced.

Today’s CCTV footage shows Mr Mitchell cycling down the middle of the street and then talking to three officers at the gate while a fourth stands nearby outside.

In the original police account, several members of the public are said to have witnessed the exchange and were ‘visibly shocked’.

A Dispatches documentary for Channel 4 challenged this with images obtained from CCTV shot from within Downing Street.

But today’s separate CCTV footage shows there were at least three members of the public outside the gates at the time of the row.

At least one appeared to be listening to the exchange.

Today MP David Davis, a staunch supporter of Mr Mitchell, said: ‘Although the Operation Alice closing report is a police report into the police, it nevertheless shows industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street.

‘One police officer has been jailed. Three more police officers have been sacked and a further two police officers have received final written warnings.’

Today’s report was released just days after Mr Mitchell’s father – Sir David Mitchell – died aged 86 after a long illness.

The publication of today’s report has been expected for some time and comes the day Parliament returns from its summer recess.

The report also contained previously-unseen CCTV footage of the incident revealing that a mystery passer-by witnessed the incident.

The video of the incident appears to corroborate the original police account of the incident recorded by officers on duty that night.

The police log said ‘several members of public [were] present’ during Mr Mitchell’s showdown with the police.

Previously-released CCTV footage – taken from within Downing Street – appeared to show that only one member of the public showed an interest in the unfolding event.

Mr Mitchell’s allies said this footage undermined the police’s official account of the incident.

But the new video footage of the incident released today – which is shot from across the road on Whitehall – clearly shows one passer-by stopping in front of the Downing Street gates while Mr Mitchell in in discussion with the police officers. It also shows two other witnesses.

Mr Mitchell is then seen wheeling his bike out of the pedestrian side gate.

Despite the fresh footage appearing to back the official police log, Scotland Yard’s deputy assistant commissioner Patricia Gallan said the ‘heart’ of the scandal was police officers conspiring together ‘to lie and falsify statements against a cabinet minister’.

The damning remarks came as the Met published a text from one of the officers on duty that night.

The message is published in today’s lengthy report by the Metropolitan police into Operation Alice, its investigation into the plebgate incident.

Operation Alice led to the dismissal of four police officers, one of whom was sent to prison.

The report found that WPC Gillian Weatherley, who was one of the four officers to lose their jobs after disciplinary hearings, texted a colleague two days after the incident to declare that she could topple the government.

WPC Weatherley witnessed, but did not overhear, the incident between Mr Mitchell and her colleague PC Toby Rowland.

In the text, sent on September 21 to a colleague known as Officer 18, WPC Weatherley wrote: ‘This will make you feel better, I’m the officer that stopped the chief whip leaving Downing St in Wednesday. He didn’t swear at me but Toby that let him out the side gate. I could topple the Tory government x.’

WPC Weatherley said the message was office banter. But a month later, on October 21, 2012, a text message was sent from her phone number to a neighbour called Nick. It read: ‘Not today but I’m at the front gates tomorrow so I still have time to bring the government down thanks for no graffiti.’

WPC Weatherley lost her job after she failed to provide an honest account of her role in the handling of an email by Rowland that described the incident.

She denied having passed on Rowland’s email when she had in fact sent a picture of the email to a colleague. This was passed to the Daily Telegraph.

Deputy assistant commissioner Gallan said of the report: ‘At the heart of this investigation were very serious allegations that police officers had conspired together to lie and falsify statements against a cabinet minister.

‘I have no doubt these allegations have damaged public trust and confidence in us.

‘The police service is here to serve the public, without fear or favour, with honesty and integrity.

‘Where our staff fall short of those standards they must be held to account. We wanted these discipline boards to be held in public, but legally we were unable to direct that this happened.

‘Ultimately, four police officers have been dismissed from the MPS, one of whom was sent to prison.

‘Every serving police officer has cause to feel let down by those colleagues who fall below the standards we all strive to uphold.’

As published in The Daily Telegraph
Text message plot to bring down Andrew Mitchell exposed in Scotland Yard report;
More than 1,100 witnesses were interviewed in the Operation Alice investigation into alleged collusion by officers, a figure which was described by a senior Tory MP as demonstrating an ‘astonishing set of priorities’.

The full extent of the alleged Downing Street police plot to bring down a Cabinet minister has been laid bare in a Scotland Yard report into the “plebgate” row.

The report found that officers boasted in text messages about how they were going to “topple” the Government in the wake of the “plebgate” row which led to the resignation of Government chief whip Andrew Mitchell.

More than 1,100 witnesses were interviewed in the Operation Alice investigation into alleged collusion by officers, a figure which was described by a senior Tory MP as demonstrating an “astonishing set of priorities”.

The Metropolitan Police published a final 56 page report into its investigation into the row between Toby Rowland, a police officer, and Andrew Mitchell, a Tory Cabinet minister at the gates of Downing Street in 2012.

Mr Rowland was one of four officers manning the Downing Street gate on September 19 2012 when Mr Mitchell, who had an office at 9 Downing St was prevented from leaving by bicycle through the main gates.

Mr Rowland claimed Mr Mitchell said: “You should know your f****** place, you don’t run this f****** Government, you’re f****** plebs” after he was refused permission to cycle out.

However, Mr Mitchell insisted he only said: “I thought you guys were supposed to f****** help us”.

Mr Mitchell is now suing The Sun for libel over its coverage of what happened that night, and said he wants Mr Rowland to give evidence on oath; while the police officer is suing Mr Mitchell over their differing accounts.

The report into Operation Alice disclosed how police officers who were on duty in Downing Street at the time of the incident sent texts to each other before and after altercation.

In one text, sent half an hour before the row, one police officer on duty on the gates told a friend: “Sorting out what could turn into major prob lol not for me though x”.

In another sent at dawn on September 21, when the row was reported in The Sun newspaper, Pc Gill Weatherley – who was on duty on the day of the confrontation and was sacked at the end of April over leaks to the press – told a colleague: “This will make you feel better, I’m the officer that stopped the chief whip leaving Downing St in Wednesday. He didn’t swear at me but Toby that let him out the side gate. I could topple the Tory government x.”

In a third text, dated October 21, Pc Weatherley texted a friend how she was “at the front gates tomorrow so I still have time to bring the government down thanks for no graffiti”.

The report also disclosed how Mr Mitchell had been previously overheard by an unnamed civil servant swearing and using the f-word when being denied access to a back gate in Downing St when he was international development secretary.

Scotland Yard also published new images from CCTV cameras around the gates, including one directly opposite, which showed that the incident was witnessed by a man carrying a black rucksack. He is not believed to have been traced.

The findings came from the 18-month long Operation Alice investigation, which saw more than 1,100 statements taken from witnesses. Some 439 exhibits were seized along with 78 relevant documents.

The final bill for the investigation, which has seen four police officers sacked and one of them jailed, could be well over £120,000, based on previous forecasts, although Scotland Yard declined to give a figure.

David Davis MP, a spokesman for Mr Mitchell, said the report demonstrated “industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street”.

He said: “One police officer has been jailed. Three more police officers have been sacked and a further two police officers have received final written warnings.

“This is extraordinary number of people to interview. We have trawled back over 20 years to try to find evidence against a Cabinet minister whose career has been destroyed by this – which is an astonishing set of priorities for the Metropolitan Police when we need our police resources for more important issues.”

Patricia Gallan, Deputy Assistant Commissioner who led the inquiry, said: “At the heart of this investigation were very serious allegations that police officers had conspired together to lie and falsify statements against a Cabinet Minister.

“I have no doubt these allegations have damaged public trust and confidence in us.

“The police service is here to serve the public, without fear or favour, with honesty and integrity. Where our staff fall short of those standards they must be held to account.”

The Downing Street police officers’ texts:

19 September, 7.11pm, Unnamed police officer (“Officer 4”) on duty in Downing St to “Emma”

“Sorting out what could turn into major prob lol not for me though x”

19 September, 7.35pm

Andrew Mitchell is refused the right to leave Downing Street by the main gates.

20 September, 10.10pm, Officer 4 to “Emma”

“One of the cabinet government ministers that I’ve had a run in with before got ump with being told to use pedestrian gate with his pedal cycle, told one of our guys ‘you don’t run the country we do your all a punch of f***ing Plebs. In front of a load of public, the officer warned him if he swears again he will nick him! I’ve been told by Friend in the press office of number 10 it will be on front pages unless they can block and might have to resign lol x”

21 September, 6.50am Pc Gill Weatherley, who was on the gates in Downing St at the time of the confrontation, to “Officer 18″, an old friend:”This will make you feel better, I’m the officer that stopped the chief whip leaving Downing St in Wednesday. He didn’t swear at me but Toby that let him out the side gate. I could topple the Tory government x”

21 September, 6.56pm, PC Weatherley to an unnamed officer who was on the gate at Downing Street on the night of “plebgate”: “Just spoke to [Officer 17] fed are not letting it go they feel he has lied about swearing at us. He needs us to write statements detailing what happened when Toby showed him out ie your comments about ‘he just swore at Toby'”

22 September, 1.26pm Pc Weatherley to Pc James Glanville, who was later dismissed for disclosing information about the incident to The Sun: “the car was press, just had a sun reporter knock on my front door, shitting myself x”

22 September, 1.29pm PC Weatherley to Pc Glanville

“No way!! Well you know it’s not me I dost know where you live!!’ (SIC)

21 October, 6pm, Pc Weatherley to “Nick”, a neighbour who was doing some renovation work on her house

“Not today but I’m at the front gates tomorrow so I still have time to bring the government down thanks for no graffiti.”

As published in The Daily Express
Plebgate police are accused of ‘industrial levels of dishonesty’

A Scotland Yard report into the Plebgate saga shows “industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street”, an MP has claimed.

The beleaguered force yesterday published a summary of its Operation Alice inquiry into the aftermath of a row between former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell and Downing Street police officer Toby Rowland.

The report reveals a female officer sent a text message to a colleague saying she was on duty that night, adding: “I could topple the Tory Government.” Scotland Yard also released CCTV footage of Mr Mitchell and PC Rowland arguing in August 2012. The pair have given con-flicting accounts of what was said during the 10-second row.

The late-night incident, in which Mr Mitchell allegedly swore at officers and called them “plebs” for not opening the main gates for him, led to the MP losing his cabinet post.

Warnings Four members of the Met’s Diplomatic Protection Group were sacked after the row, including one jailed for falsely claiming to have witnessed it.

Yesterday MP David Davis, a supporter of Mr Mitchell, said: “Although the Operation Alice closing report is a police report into police, it shows industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street.

“One police officer has been jailed. Three more police officers have been sacked and a further two police officers have received final written warnings.”

PC Rowland, who has not faced any disciplinary action over the alleged row, was one of four officers manning the Downing Street gate that night. He claimed Mr Mitchell swore at him.

After the incident the MP admitted swearing during the confrontation but denied he directed it at the officer or police in general. He was later forced to step down from his position.

Mr Mitchell is suing The Sun newspaper over its coverage and wants PC Rowland to give evidence under oath. The constable is suing Mr Mitchell for £200,000 for his accusations.

The documents from Scotland Yard include a summary of the force’s investigation into the incident and its aftermath, as well as findings from its internal misconduct proceedings.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, who led the inquiry, said: “At the heart of this investigation were very serious allegations that police officers had conspired to lie and falsify statements against a cabinet minister. I have no doubt these allegations have damaged public trust and confidence in us.”
As published in The Yorkshire Post
MP condemns ‘plebgate’ police

A Scotland Yard report on the “plebgate” saga shows “industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street”, an MP has claimed.

The force has published a series of documents summarising its inquiry into the aftermath of the confrontation, called Operation Alice, which has seen four police officers sacked.

It also released CCTV footage, previously unseen by the public, of the foul-mouthed disagreement between police officer Toby Rowland and then Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell in Downing Street in 2012.

The pair gave contradicting accounts of what was said in a conversation that lasted little over 10 seconds, and was the start of an ongoing dispute between the politician and the police after Mr Mitchell resigned from his post.

Haltemprice and Howden MP David Davis, a staunch supporter of Mr Mitchell, said: “Although the Operation Alice closing report is a police report into the police, it nevertheless shows industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street.

“One police officer has been jailed. Three more police officers have been sacked and a further two police officers have received final written warnings.”

Mr Rowland, who was one of four officers manning the Downing Street gate that night, claimed Mr Mitchell swore and used the word “plebs” when he was refused permission to cycle out.

The MP admitted using foul language but denied saying “plebs”.

Mr Mitchell is suing the Sun over its coverage of what happened that night, and said he wants Mr Rowland to give evidence on oath; while the police officer is suing Mr Mitchell over their differing accounts.

The documents released by Scotland Yard include a report summarising the force’s investigation into the incident and its aftermath, as well as findings relating to internal misconduct proceedings.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, who led the inquiry, said: “We understand the public interest in this case, which is why we have taken the unusual step of publishing this material.

“We have not been in a position to do this before due to the criminal and disciplinary processes that had to take place, and the detail of our report was relevant to those hearings.

“At the heart of this investigation were very serious allegations that police officers had conspired together to lie and falsify statements against a Cabinet Minister. I have no doubt these allegations have damaged public trust and confidence in us.

“The police service is here to serve the public, without fear or favour, with honesty and integrity. Where our staff fall short of those standards they must be held to account.

“Every serving police officer has cause to feel let down by those colleagues who fall below the standards we all strive to uphold.”

The officers who were sacked are PC Keith Wallis, who was jailed and dismissed for emailing his MP pretending to have witnessed the confrontation, while PC James Glanville was sacked after he leaked information to the Sun.

PC Susan Johnson lost her job after she exchanged text messages and a phone call with Glanville around the time he contacted the tabloid, and for failing to report that Wallis had sent her a copy of his email.

PC Gillian Weatherley, who was on duty on the day of the confrontation between Mr Mitchell and PC Rowland, was sacked at the end of April over leaks to the Press.

As posted on The Huffington Post UK
Unseen Footage From ‘Plebgate’ Andrew Mitchell Saga ‘Shows Police Dishonesty’

A Scotland Yard report on the “plebgate” saga shows “industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street”, an MP has claimed.

The force has published a series of documents summarising its inquiry into the aftermath of the confrontation, called Operation Alice, which has seen four police officers sacked.

It also released CCTV footage, previously unseen by the public, of the foul-mouthed disagreement between police officer Toby Rowland and then Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell in Downing Street in 2012.

The pair gave contradicting accounts of what was said in a conversation that lasted little over 10 seconds, and was the start of an ongoing dispute between the politician and the police after Mitchell resigned from his post.

Today MP David Davis, a staunch supporter of Mitchell, said: “Although the Operation Alice closing report is a police report into the police, it nevertheless shows industrial levels of dishonesty by police working in Downing Street.
“One police officer has been jailed. Three more police officers have been sacked and a further two police officers have received final written warnings.”

Rowland, who was one of four officers manning the Downing Street gate that night, claimed Mitchell said: ”You should know your f****** place, you don’t run this f****** Government, you’re f****** plebs” after he was refused permission to cycle out.

However, the MP insisted he said: ”I thought you guys were supposed to f****** help us”.

Mitchell is suing the Sun over its coverage of what happened that night, and said he wants Rowland to give evidence on oath; while the police officer is suing Mr Mitchell over their differing accounts.

The documents released by Scotland Yard today include a report summarising the force’s investigation into the incident and its aftermath, as well as findings relating to internal misconduct proceedings.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, who led the inquiry, said: “We understand the public interest in this case, which is why we have taken the unusual step of publishing this material.

“We have not been in a position to do this before due to the criminal and disciplinary processes that had to take place, and the detail of our report was relevant to those hearings.

“At the heart of this investigation were very serious allegations that police officers had conspired together to lie and falsify statements against a Cabinet Minister. I have no doubt these allegations have damaged public trust and confidence in us.

“The police service is here to serve the public, without fear or favour, with honesty and integrity. Where our staff fall short of those standards they must be held to account. We wanted these discipline boards to be held in public, but legally we were unable to direct that this happened.

“Ultimately four police officers have been dismissed from the MPS, one of whom was sent to prison. Every serving police officer has cause to feel let down by those colleagues who fall below the standards we all strive to uphold”.
Scotland Yard bosses said that they had wanted to hold the misconduct hearings in public, but were unable to do so unless instructed by the IPCC.

The officers who were sacked are Pc Keith Wallis, who was jailed and dismissed for emailing his MP pretending to have witnessed the confrontation, while Pc James Glanville was sacked after he leaked information to the Sun newspaper.

Pc Susan Johnson lost her job after she exchanged text messages and a phone call with Glanville around the time he contacted the tabloid, and for failing to report that Wallis had sent her a copy of his email.

Pc Gillian Weatherley, who was on duty on the day of the confrontation between Mitchell and Pc Toby Rowland, was sacked at the end of April over leaks to the press.

She sent a photograph of an email Rowland had sent to his bosses about the row to Glanville. Another two officers were given final written warnings in relation to statements they provided to the investigation team or inappropriate comments.