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Andrew Mitchell resigns as Chief Whip

The fallout from "Plebgate" claims Mitchell, four weeks on, as he admits telling Downing Street police "I thought you guys were supposed to f***ing help us".

By New Statesman Published 19 October 2012 18:53

Andrew Mitchell. Photo: Getty

The news has just broken that Andrew Mitchell has resigned as Chief Whip.

Number 10 announced on Twitter that David Cameron had accepted the resignation.

The Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell.

— No. 10 Press Office(@Number10press) October 19, 2012

Below is Mitchell's resignation letter in which he admits that he swore at the police, but denies calling them "plebs".

In his response to Mitchell, David Cameron said:

Thank you for your letter. I was sorry to receive it, but I understand why you have reached the conclusion you have, and why you have decided to resign from the Government.

I regret that this has become necessary, and am very grateful for all you have done, both in Government and in Opposition – as well as for the kind words in your letter.

As we discussed in advance of the reshuffle, I wanted you to bring your organisational skill and energy to the important job of chief whip. It was clear to me that you had already made a strong start.

As you have acknowledged, the incident in Downing Street was no acceptable and you were right to apologise for it.

You have much to be proud of from your service on the frontbench both in opposition and in government, and in your continued service to your constituents in Sutton Coldfield. I hope that, in time, you will be able to make a further contribution to public life.

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View the discussion thread.

17 comments

Sun, 2012-10-21 21:38 — Hugh C Markey (not verified)

Most of our group thought Andrew Mitchell's signature looked uncommonly like 'fuehrer".
Now this is when you really need a forensic handwriting expert.
Consequences: does this mean Mitchell will have to forego membership of any or all gentlemen's clubs to which he has been elected?
After all he has impugned the truthfulness of at least one police office on security duty at the Downing Street gate.
His veracity has likewise been questioned by this same police officer.
This is what equates to a 'thoroughly bad show!'

Decisive Dave

Sun, 2012-10-21 12:39 — andyg (not verified)

"I thought you guys were supposed to f***ing help us."
A rather strange comment to make for not being able to ride your bicycle!!!!

Sun, 2012-10-21 12:38 — andyg (not verified)

"I thought you guys were sopposed to f***ing help us."
A rather strange comment to make for not being able to ride your bicycle!!!!

Sun, 2012-10-21 10:05 — NMac (not verified)

Even as hr resigns this character is still saying that the Police are telling lies. The whole matter still needs to investigated properly to ascertain who is the dishonest liar - the Police or the foul-mouthed Tory bully boy.

Sun, 2012-10-21 09:44 — Pavlova

He didn't get forced out because of plebgate. That is a lie. He, an elected public representative, got forced out by you, our unelected unrepresentative press.

Sat, 2012-10-20 23:34 — Mr Bingham (not verified)

Another deceiful lying Tory is exposed and gone.

What we now need is Plebs Power to show this bunch of self loving Toffs that they can no longer lie to, decieve, discriminate, humiliate and totally abuse the decent people of this nation.

Time for Poetic justice with the Plebs fight back against the bunch of evil cabinet office ministers that look down upon the 99.9 percent of this nation.

Who the hell do they think they are, let us Plebs put this Tory Led Coalition in it's place.

Sat, 2012-10-20 13:39 — nourredine

Also, i forgot to mention that A.M. tried again to go through the gate the following day, which this has not been mentionned a lot.
Did the man not understand? or is he thinking like many people think of the conservative party as a divid ing party?

Sat, 2012-10-20 13:35 — nourredine

To all who defend A.M.
You are missing the point, it is not about the swearing, did he said it or not.
It is about the integrity of the officer who wrote the notes.
A.M. said that it is not the end of the matter, the officer felt obliged to put pen to paper to protect herself.
When it came to it, it was the word of one against the word of another.
A.M. said he does not recognise the words attributed to him, but never said what he said, that still a mistery.
If A.M. is sure of what he said why not say it exactly what he said.
The big problem for his resignation come not from the labour party or the press but from within the conservative party the 1922 commity voted 50% against him to stay.
That what pushed him to resign.
Please get the facts right before blaming willy nilly.

Sat, 2012-10-20 07:43 — Artemis caesar (not verified)

He will be back in another role! His letter's a joke,transforming the lives of the poor,what planet is living on? There has been no transformation, not of a positive nature at least,the world's poor are poorer and also what about the poor in this country? The only 'positive' transformation has been for the rich and multinational corporations who have become richer!

Sat, 2012-10-20 01:06 — Davidaslindsay (not verified)

Andrew Mitchell has resigned in order to deflect attention from George Osborne and his dodgy train ticket.

Very public school.

Fri, 2012-10-19 21:45 — MarkscholesLB (not verified)

I believe the insistence of the media to pursue this story until a political career is destroyed is a disgrace. The ability to question the enforcement of any law no matter how pointless should be a human right. What seems to have been forgotten throughout the entirety of this saga is the stupidity of the law in question. Ordering a member of government to dismount his bicycle before being allowed through a gate appears to be nothing more than a power trip. There are far too many laws that can be imposed by an egotistic officer if he desires an opportunity to belittle a fellow human being.

Congratulations to every journalist that made this outcome possible, please remember that this outcome achieves more than a few points scored against the Tories. Once again you have missed the opportunity to defend the liabilities of the British people against aggressive policing.

Sat, 2012-10-20 10:40 — Herbert (not verified)

'Ordering a member of government to dismount his bicycle before being allowed through a gate appears to be nothing more than a power trip.'

He's a cabinet minister, for god's sake. He could have told the officer he thought it was ridiculous, did as he was asked, and then taken it up officially. What he shouldn't have done is started effing and blinding. That was where he went wrong.

Sat, 2012-10-20 12:19 — willoyen

he's also a man for god's sake. What poor sensitive policemen we must have to be so offended by a bit of bad-tempered effing and blinding, let alone the dread oath 'plebs', as to bring it this far, with police demanding his resignation, and with police commisioners weighing in and saying the police must be respected. 'Must'? respect is given freely, where respect is due, not by compulsion. The police are getting too big for their jackboots.

Fri, 2012-10-19 21:12 — Michael Dixon (not verified)

Attention now turns to the Police. If Mitchell did not say "pleb" and I believe him, why did they write it down and who told the press?

If those on the Labour side find this good news, think again. First Cameron has put in place of Mitchell a person more in tune with his Conservatism. Two, a highly respected ex- Labour MP and Minister, Chris Mullin, called the Police Federation a "mob" in a recent, excellent article entitled "Don't let police bullies oust Andrew Mitchell"

Well they have played a large part, aided by a Labour Party cheering-on from the sidelines. The depths to which the Labour party has fallen is clearly illustrated tonight and if the New Statesman places itself on the same side of those in the Police Force now dangerously entering the political arena, then more fool them.

Sat, 2012-10-20 10:42 — Herbert (not verified)

'If Mitchell did not say "pleb" and I believe him...'

On what basis do you 'believe him'? Were you there? That is the only way we can know definitely what happened. I think you mean 'I prefer to believe him'. Though things are bad when most of us prefer the word of a copper to that of a cabinet minister.

Fri, 2012-10-19 20:30 — Peter Garland (not verified)

In the second last paragraph, he talks about ,'...transforming the lives of the worlds poorest..'
Have we hounded out a Marxist? Was Mitchell the Tory version of Tony Blair , pretending to be a Tory but was actually a Socialist? Cameron is always going on about another Marxist concept, The NHS.haha

Cameron will surely not make any more PR mistakes. He will ensure his replacement will not be some Eton toff . The Cabinet is already an FP version of the Bullingdon Club.

Sat, 2012-10-20 10:44 — Herbert (not verified)

Sir George Young. Educated: Eton. Oh dear.