"F*ck*ng plebs" oath to cost Tory politico £3 million

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Ex-Government whip Andrew Mitchell faces £3MILLION bill after libel judge decides
he DID call police 'f*ck*ng plebs' - because officer lacked the 'wit or imagination' to lie
(Daily Mail)

⁍ Mr Mitchell has lost libel case against News Group over 'Plebgate' row
⁍ Tory MP had denied he called Downing Street police officers 'f*ck*ng plebs'
⁍ Judge Mr Justice Mitting today ruled the MP did have 'childish' outburst
⁍ He said: 'Mr Mitchell did speak the words alleged or something so close to
...them as to amount to the same including the politically toxic word pleb'
⁍ PC Rowland did not have 'wit' to 'invent' what the millionaire Tory said
⁍ Diplomatic Protection officer sued Mr Mitchell for suggesting he lied
⁍ Court sources say that case could leave MP with £3million legal costs
⁍ He said he was 'bitterly disappointed' with ruling but did not apologise
⁍ Allies call ruling 'unjust' but other MPs say he should've said sorry in 2012
story at the link
 
Why did the word 'pleb' matter? (BBC News)

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Columnist Matthew d'Ancona said: "For a senior minister to call the people protecting him and his colleagues 'plebs' would be no small matter.

"It would confirm every ghastly suspicion that the Tory party is led by people who really do believe themselves born to rule and therefore regard the police as no more than proletarian shock-troops at their beck and call.

"It would be a great scandal."
more at links

Andrew Mitchell and the Plebgate affair explained for non-Brits (Guardian)

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Meaning a common, or lower-class person, pleb is a largely outdated piece of slang in Britain, rarely heard by most in recent years before Mitchell inadvertently brought it back to prominence.

As insults go, pleb is relatively mild, and has a distinguished etymology, being derived from the Latin term plebeian, a member of the lower orders in ancient Rome. However, it is a class-based slur, and despite weekly newspaper articles decreeing the end of class, Britons remain obsessed by social status, especially the idea a compatriot might be judging them in connection with it.
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