The Pleb-gate saga takes another turn today with the IPCC finally weighing in on that meeting between Mitchell and his local Police Federation. Deborah Glass, the deputy chair of the IPCC

“The investigation by West Mercia Police concluded that although the Police Federation undoubtedly contributed to the pressure on Mr Mitchell and his decision to resign, none of the officers had a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct. The investigating officer concluded that while the federation representatives’ comments to the media could be viewed as ambiguous or misleading, there was no deliberate intention to lie. I disagree. In my view, the evidence is such that a panel should determine whether the three officers gave a false account of the meeting in a deliberate attempt to support their MPS colleague and discredit Mr Mitchell, in pursuit of a wider agenda. In my opinion the evidence indicates an issue of honesty and integrity, not merely naïve or poor professional judgment.”

A full transcript of the meeting has been published here.

Interestingly Mitchell has not made an official complaint and West Mercia Police still say there is “insufficient evidence” to punish those officers involved.

It rumbles on…