Former British minister hits out at police over 'plebgate' row A British policeman was charged on Tuesday with lying and seven more face disciplinary proceedings over the so-called "plebgate" scandal which brought down a former senior official in the Conservative party. At a press conference on Tuesday, the ex-Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell hit out at the decision, accusing a policeman with whom he had an argument of falsely claiming that the minister had called police "plebs", and saying that prosecutors should have charged the officer as well. Images and soundbites.