Cameron on defensive
as Miliband demands
sacking for police row

Labour leader Ed Miliband used the first Prime Minister’s Questions since the incident last month to denounce Mr Mitchell yesterday, saying he should have been arrested like any other “yob” who had sworn at officers.

And at the weekly meeting of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee last night, four Tory MPs were said to have questioned his position.

They were said to have been outnumbered by up to 15 who supported him, led by Tory grandees Sir Peter Tapsell and Bernard Jenkin, and sources said even those with concerns took the view that it would be “a spectacular own goal” if Mr Mitchell was forced to go now.

The discussion about him earlier in the Commons went on for so long that Chancellor George Osborne had to wait outside in a corridor for 30 minutes before speaking.

Mr Miliband went on the attack, suggesting he had lost the support of senior colleagues. “While it is a night in the cell for the yobs, it is a night at the Carlton Club for the chief whip. Isn’t that the clearest case there could be of total double standards? His position is untenable. In other words, he is toast.”

But Mr Cameron insisted that Mr Mitchell had apologised to the officer concerned and the apology had been accepted.

At one point Mr Mitchell appeared to deny having sworn at police, shaking his head and apparently mouthing “I didn’t, I didn’t” as Mr Miliband said that people who swear at police should expect to be arrested.

Mr Mitchell had arrived 20 minutes early for Prime Minister’s Questions and sat three spaces down from Mr Cameron alongside Leader of the House Andrew Lansley.

He looked tense, shaking his head and mouthing “no” as Mr Miliband accused him of calling the police “plebs” and “ranting and raving”.

He did however join in Tory cheering as Mr Cameron accused the Labour leader of focusing on the chief whip because he had nothing to say about more serious issues.