Paul McKeever, the rent-a-rozzer head of the Police Federation has told the BBC this afternoon that he would be “first in queue to apologise” if Mitchell has “been done a calumny.” Which reminded Guido of what the very same police union were saying during the autumn:

“Members of the West Midlands Police Federation said Andrew Mitchell had “no option but to resign”, following a meeting with the chief whip. They said Mr Mitchell repeated a “profound apology with feeling” but continued to deny using the words attributed to him during an outburst at police officers outside Number 10. This meant his position had become “untenable”, they said.”

Apparently he now feels “we can all say we can do things better” when asked about his aggressive campaign to decapitate the former Chief Whip. Guido isn’t sure it’s going to be that easy for the militant union, if Mitchell does eventually vindicate himself…