[Closed] Plebgate: Andrew Mitchell loses libel case

The case was against what the sun reported though, of course, they were reporting what the copper had said. This is why he was on trial but it was against the Sun.

I don't think that's quite right. Mitchell was suing the paper for libel for what they published, and the PC was suing Mitchell for libel for calling him a liar. So the Sun were defending themselves against the action Mitchell raised against them, while he was simultaneously suing the Sun and defending himself against the action PC Rowland raised against him.

From the Granuid...[i]'culminating in a legal case which finished on Thursday that saw Mitchell sue the Sun for libel over its story, while at the same time Mitchell was sued by PC Rowland for calling the policeman a liar.'[/i]

Or is that what you meant and I'm misreading you 🙂

did you just call junkyard a lying thicko?

The hypocrisy is plain to see.

As in complaining about the derogatory use of the term pleb (and swearing) while using toff in exactly the same manner. Quite. Plain to see and breathtaking.

So lots of it about really.

Anyway, good for the lawyers if no one else (oh and the media barons!)

As in complaining about the derogatory use of the term pleb (and swearing) while using toff in exactly the same manner.

toff lives are valuable

did you just call junkyard a lying thicko?

Not intentionally, but I'll start saving just in case

As in complaining about the derogatory use of the term pleb (and swearing) while using toff in exactly the same manner. Quite. Plain to see and breathtaking.

Thm it's equally plain to see that 'toff' from a position of relative powerlessness (no offence ernie) is quite a different thing from 'pleb' from a position of quite considerable power, both in terms of being so obviously an establishment figure, and in terms of the job he does/did. Imagine if you used 'BS' in your powerful professional position to explain to your students or their parents how off the mark they were. Yet its ok (and it really is!) to use that language on this forum discussing what politicians say.

I really can't understand what motivated to take him this case on,

I guess he has a enormous ego and couldnt conceive of losing.

Ironically it is the trait that we applaud in sportsmen.

My tears flow for all these persecuted toffs.

If he'd just let it lie (no pun intended), he'd still be in the Cabinet and have all his money.

Beware hubris....

Honestly, why all the fuss over the word 'pleb'? Anyone with a decent classical education must understand that by the end of the Roman era, plebeians could attain almost noble status within the hierarachy.

This Mitchell chap must have been dreaming during his ancient history lessons at Rugby. 🙂

[b][i]"plebeians could attain almost noble status"[/i][/b]

[img] [/img]

I don't really think its the word specifically. Its the fact that he thought that, on having a volley of abuse delivered to them by one of his betters, the police should have doffed their caps and do as they were ordered.

If anyone else tried effing and jeffing at the police in the street, you'd be spending night in the cells, then probably charged with a public order offence. If you doubt that, go and give it a try.

So... in reality he'd already got off lightly. But his monstrous ego, and monumental arrogance wouldn't allow him to even countenance that. People must pay for daring to not bow to his will. [b]DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!! [/b]is always a great character trait

Deserves everything he gets really

That's just lazy stereotyping, Ernie. 😀 . Typical Channel 4.

And yes, bumptious pricks like Mitchell deserve everything they get. Has his Wiki entry been tampered with, or is this true?

He was educated at Rugby School, at which school the self-confessed "stern disciplinarian" earned the nickname "Thrasher".

is that what you meant and I'm misreading you

If anyone else tried effing and jeffing at the police in the street, you'd be spending night in the cells, then probably charged with a public order offence. If you doubt that, go and give it a try.

*wipes dust off truncheon, stands nonchalantly twirling handcuffs*

*reads post and wishes to clarify that neither of those is a euphemism*

I had to google "effing and jeffing", apparently it's a term that northerners use. Down South where we speak like what the Queen does it's "effing and blinding".

*wipes dust off truncheon, stands nonchalantly twirling handcuffs*

From what I remember of my journalist law, a libel is committed if what is published causes a person to be "lowered in the eyes of right-thinking people". Therefore there was no libel in this case because everyone already thought he was a cock.

Some toff (Michael Brown) on Radio 4 this morning was saying how it could have all been avoided if Mitchell just 'stopped this bicycling nonsense' (or some such) and used his ministerial car. "This is why ministerial cars are provided, to protect ministers from incidences of this kind" (ie interacting with plebs), using Eric Pickles as an example. Made me chuckle.

Ah, but did right-thinking people even know who he was before 'Plebgate'?

Of course, it's arguable that no MP could advance a claim of libel under that definition.

Pretty marginal defamation claim at the best of times. The difference in reputational damage between swearing at an officer (which he admitted) and swearing at him with the addition of the word pleb is debateable.

using Eric Pickles as an example.

Eh? Have I been wrongly assuming for all these years that 'Eric Pickles' was the Downing Street cat?

The fact that he can't fit through the pedestrian gate should have been a clue.

Eh? Have I been wrongly assuming for all these years that 'Eric Pickles' was the Downing Street cat?

[img] [/img]

Eric Pickles, yesterday.

The fact that he can't fit through the pedestrian gate should have been a clue.

Gate duty for me and my lack of wit then 🙂

'Eric Pickles' - how apt.

It is perhaps not surprising, given that this is the "United" [b]Kingdom[/b], that politicians seem to forget they are [i]our[/i] employees...