Sounds like Mr Mitchell could possibly get a handsome defamation settlement if he goes for it.

I don't see how, unless I've missed something.

Possibly.

From whom?

I should also point out that it is usual for anyone bringing a claim of defamation to prove that they were of good character and any remarks made would sully that.

Mitchell has always said he never used the word 'pleb'.

An officer who claims to have heard him say the word wasn't even on duty at the time. Shambles.

Which officer is that? If you mean the one who's been arrested I don't believe he ever said he heard Mitchell say anything, he is alleged to have leaked the official police incident log to the press. It is the log which states Mitchell used the word pleb.

So I'm still struggling to see how Mitchell has a decent case for defamation.

Wrong.

The arrest is for leaking the details of statements to the press by an officer who wasn't on duty at the time but who subsequently had access to the statements, nothing at all to do with what was said by whom.

You should read the news.

Even The Guardian reports that the officer seems to have said he witnessed the events when he wasn't on duty and then it is alleged he also misled MPs. If these allegations are founded, it would appear that Mitchell may have been set up for political reasons. The fact that Labour so relentlessly pursued and hounded him on what could prove false allegations should tell the voters all they need to know about Miliband's judgment and ethics.

The Guardian tucks away its report today in a modestly sized article at the bottom of, I think, page 4. A far cry from it's pages on the subject previously. Again, tells you all you need to know about the morals of the left-leaning chattering classes mouthpiece.

None of which gives Mitchell a case for defamation since it is not this officer who recorded the police log.

Or, maybe, The Guardian has realised (as has Mitchell) that, ratrher than this off-duty chap, the issue is really about the contents of the Police log where it is recorded what Mitchell said.
Just a thought.

Your attempts to provoke are merely yawn-inducing.

Just spotted on Twitter:

Eye Spy MP ‏@eyespymp Andrew Mitchell MP told off in Chancery Lane by cab driver for using mobile while cycling: "Get off the phone you moron."

Why?
Did he get arrested for using his mobile whilst cycling?

There is a really simple solution to all of this nonsense.

Release the cctv and audio tapes.

Cabinet Ministers don't resign because someone is making up stories about them, not when the incident took place in a street that MUST have the biggest saturation of cctv and audio devices, high quality at that, in the whole country, it would take a Cabinet Minister about five minutes to request a copy of the recordings that would proove beyond doubt what was said and done on that day, especially as his government will own the recordings int he first place.

What probably happened was that within five minutes of the story breaking the tapes were called in, watched, and then they spent a month hoping that the story would run its course and he'd escape the falling on his sword, what is happening now is a discrediting campaign of fluff and bluster to allow him to creep in by the back gate, preferably not on his bike.

Its not a Tory thing, its politics, they think we are all blind to their shenanigans.