Right, well the officer didn't event an incident which was unpleasant, that's agreed by everyone. And it was worth reporting, that seems to be agreed. No harm in Mitchell agreeing that he might have said 'in the agony of the moment', the words 'attributed to him' but, for some reason, he won't.
Now, we have to imagine, that the officer speaking to this angry man has invented the word 'pleb' in the swearing. What does it add, from the officer's point of view? He has the man bang to rights, as all agree. The incident had to be reported anyway, in the circumstances. 'Pleb' adds nothing.But it is an oddly memorable word, the kind of word which would stick in the memory when recording the log.
But Mitchell, the politician, has every reason to regret saying it, and every reason to deny it, because he knows, on reflection, exactly how it sounds and how it goes against his boss's strenuous efforts not to have the Party, and himself, portrayed as snobby, elitist, public school, toffs.
The officer is correct. The embarrassed Mitchell is not.
On the other