As a Conservative MP I publicly opposed the increases in the foreign aid budget under Andrew Mitchell's leadership. As a Special Constable in London I have spent 8 years working side by side with regular officers and experienced first hand the verbal and sometimes physical threats which the police all too often face.
So it might surprise people to learn that I believe Andrew Mitchell has been badly treated by the police, the Conservative Party, and the media. I want to speak up for him and I also want to make clear that neither he nor anyone else has asked me to do so.
There has been endless debate over whether or not he used the word "pleb". The only two people who know for sure are Andrew and the police officer concerned. Police accounts of the incident have been completely discredited by a witness statement that appears to have been fabricated. We should therefore accept his word that he didn't. Natural justice demands no less.
Instead a number of journalists and, shamefully, anonymous Conservative MPs have come forward to say that "well it is the sort of thing he would say." Here I take issue.
I am completely middle class but having gone to a comprehensive school and worked for several years as a lorry driver instead of going to university and with no outside income or wealth, I might arguably be described as more "plebeian" than many of my colleagues.
Andrew would often ask for a chat with me when my criticisms of his department, and by inference of him appeared in the media. I cannot match the conversations we had with the anonymous sources suggesting that he has a bullying manner and the nickname "thrasher". He was always a model of courtesy and restraint.
On a number of occasions I had actually given him good reason to feel quite annoyed with me and the most I got was a sad smile or a raised eyebrow.
But what of the fact that he admitted, yes admitted using the "F-word" in front of a police officer. When he walked off muttering "you're supposed to f***ing help us"
Up goes the cry "He should have been arrested" usually followed by the suggestion that "anyone else would have been." Ed Miliband suggested this at Prime Minister's Questions.
Ed needs a better understanding of a police officer's daily life. Every time I go on duty as a Special Constable I hear the F word being used by angry people. It is a part of life. If the police are to be instructed to start arresting everyone who gets angry and uses the F word then the cells and courts will be heaving with otherwise law abiding people who momentarily lose their tempers.
These armchair commentators know very little about the law. Andrew wasn't even close to being arrested because there is a big difference between swearing AT a police officer and swearing IN FRONT OF a police officer. The relevant offence the Public Order Act. Without getting too technical, in training I was taught to differentiate between someone who says "f***ing hell officer" (swearing in front of, not overly serious) "oi officer f*** off" (swearing at - more serious and likely to end in arrest if repeated after a warning ) and "officer Im gonna punch your f***ing head in" (explicit threat and likely to lead to immediate arrest.)
Andrew's outburst fell firmly into the first category and even more importantly he was walking away when he used the word. The officer was not being threatened or intimidated in any way and the subject was leaving. I think it is inconceivable that anyone could ever be arrested simply for using the f word under their breath whilst walking away from a police officer. I wouldn't want to be the officer facing a custody sergeant with a prisoner brought in on an offence like that.
In order to secure a conviction for a public order offence an officer would have to prove to the court that she/he or nearby members of the public felt threatened alarmed or insulted by what was taking place. We already know from the CCTV that there were no members of public to take offence, despite what the police claimed - so the case would hinge on whether a police officer, in this instance an experienced member of an elite firearms unit, felt "threatened" because a middle aged man had muttered a sentence which included the word "fucking" with his earshot, whist walking away wheeling a bicycle.
It would make for an interesting court case although in reality CPS would never attempt to persue it and a custody sergeant would probably have bawled out any constable trying to bring in a prisoner in on such ludicrous grounds.
The technicalities of the Public Order Act may not be widely known but I would have expected certain journalists and MPs on all sides to look it up before proceeding to pass judgement on Andrew.
If we all agree that Andrew should be treated exactly like anyone else than it is time to ask whether public sector workers should be summarily sacked if someone makes an unproven and discredited allegation that they called someone else a name, or whether we should dismiss people who are heard to use the word f***ing" whilst stalking off in a huff.
I am proud to be a police officer and I count some of those I have worked with as very good friends. In Parliament and on the Home Affairs Committee I have stood up for the police on many occasions especially when they are criticised for their use of force in trying to protect life and property in dangerous situations and I will continue to do so. But to my friends in the police and in Parliament I respectfully say that Andrew Mitchell, who is not a friend of mine and with whom I disagree on many things, has been very unfairly treated.
I hope he is put back into a high profile job, and if he ends up back in his old position at DFID I shall be happy to resume my criticisms of his policies.
NB: This article first appeared on Total Politics here http://www.totalpolitics.com/blog/428387/david-davies-mp-in-defence-of-…