Andrew Mitchell has apologised twice now, but still won't confirm one way or another one vital detail: did he call a Downing Street policeman a "pleb" in his apparent foul-mouthed rant last Wednesday night?

Reports in at least two national newspapers insist that, unless the police report is false, he did use the word which finds its origins in the Roman senate.

But why does this old-fashioned four letter insult hold such significance? Quite simply because its use enforces all the worst stereotypes about the Tories and their supporters.

andrew mitchell Mitchel: typical Tory?


Plebeians was the Latin term for the mass of the population in the lower classes of Roman society but evolved over centuries - towards its more modern form based in public schools.

It also occurs in several works of literature, not least of all in Shakespeare who used the term in various plays including Coriolanus and Julius Caeser, in which the 'plebeians' are an easy-swayed, ill-educated mob who fall for rhetorical speeches.

In this British context, "pleb" is typically taken to refer to students not from the gentry. It can be used as an insult to suggest an individual is unimportant or of a lower class - not someone who should be involved in important affairs.

Opponents of the Conservative Party have seized upon Mr Mitchell's comments as evidence the Tories never dispensed with their supposed "born to rule" mentality when David Cameron took over as leader and worked to detoxify the brand.

Edith Hall, professor of classics at King's College London, explained to the Radio 4 Today programme that both the Roman origins of the word and its contemporary usage made her back the police account over that of Mr Mitchell.

She said: "If you're in a 21st century democracy then it is extraordinary. One of the reasons I'm absolutely convinced he did use that word is it's just not the sort of thing a policeman would invent - they would not come up with that.

"Only people educated at Thomas Arnold School, where they all go around talking to each other as if they were in different Roman orders, would actually use that word. That's why I know the police are telling the truth."

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