Top Mandarin ‘must look into
Chief Whip’s tirade at police’

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood must also release, in full, accounts of what was said during the outburst, Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has suggested the Tory enforcer should be allowed to “draw a line” under the incident while Tory Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said his colleague should not be sacked for having a “bad temper”.

But Labour insisted Prime Minister David Cameron could not “dismiss” the incident after reports that Mr Mitchell admits to swearing when officers refused to let him cycle out of Downing Street’s main gates.

Ms Cooper has written to Sir Jeremy asking for Mr Mitchell and the officers involved to be interviewed, statements to be reviewed and an examination of CCTV footage.

“We now know that Andrew Mitchell swore at police officers who were doing their job protecting Downing Street,” Ms Cooper said. “This is completely unacceptable behaviour from a Cabinet Minister, and a half-hearted private apology is clearly insufficient.

“Andrew Mitchell’s account of what went on is unravelling day by day and we need to know exactly what happened.”

“From the reports we have seen it appears that either the Chief Whip used very offensive language to dismiss an officer on duty and has not told the public the full story, or, alternatively, Mr Mitchell and the Prime Minister are saying the testimony of police officers who protect Downing Street cannot be trusted or should be ignored.

“Either of those alternatives are extremely serious, which is why this needs to be fully investigated.”

The Chief Whip admits swearing at No 10 police officers but insists he did not call them “plebs”, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

It suggests Mr Mitchell said: “Look, I’m the chief whip, I work at Number 9 (Downing Street),” before muttering: “You guys are supposed to f****** help us.”

A friend of the Minister told the newspaper: “He does not dispute he lost it a bit.

It was in frustration at the episode and not aimed directly at the officers.

It was the fourth time he had been at Downing Street that day – he is frequently allowed to use the main gate on his bike.

“He is absolutely not accusing anyone of lying.”

When allegations about the tirade were published on Friday, Mr Mitchell issued a statement denying using “any of the words that have been reported”.

“Here we have a guy on a bicycle who lost his rag.”

Mr Mitchell, a keen cyclist, was reported by the Sun to also have called the police “morons”.

“Best you learn your f****** place. You don’t run this f****** Government. You’re f****** plebs,” it reported him as saying.