Three preliminary issues from two defamation actions arising from the so-called 'Plebgate' affair are to be tried in one joint hearing, a High Court judge has decided.

The two actions are the case in which former Conservative chief whip Andrew Mitchell (pictured, Reuters) is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, over its reporting of an altercation in which he was involved at the gates of Downing Street, and the case in which he is in turn being sued by Pc Toby Rowland, the officer involved in the incident.

Mitchell alleges that he was libelled by The Sun, and that its article, published on 21 September 2012, under the headline "Cabinet Minister: Police are Plebs", which said he had called police "fucking plebs" and "morons" attributed to him abusive terms he had not used.