Andrew Mitchell fails to kill Gategate story with new public apology

‘I’ve apologised to the police, I’ve apologised to the police officer involved on the gate, and he’s accepted my apology. I hope very much that we can draw a line under it here.’ Andrew Mitchell hoped that his public apology outside those Downing Street gates that caused him such grief last week would mean Gategate would start to fade away. You can listen to his full statement below:

But even if the Chief Whip terrifies members of his own party (some of whom think he has rather taken the heat off Nick Clegg at the start of the Lib Dem conference), he can't count on the support of Lib Dem MPs in drawing this line. Sir Menzies Campbell has just popped up on the BBC to say that 'this story still has legs'.