Cameron wrote back that he was sorry to receive Mitchell’s resignation but understood why he had decided to quit.
“I regret that this has become necessary,” the prime minister wrote.
“As you have acknowledged, the incident in Downing Street was not acceptable and you were right to apologise for it.”
Mitchell, 56, a former soldier and investment banker, was appointed to his new post by Cameron during a cabinet reshuffle in August. He previously served as international development secretary.
He was educated at the elite Rugby public school where he was reportedly nicknamed “Thrasher” because of his reputation as a stern disciplinarian.
Mitchell met Britain’s Police Federation last Friday in a fruitless attempt to smooth over the row.
The opposition Labour Party had also taunted Cameron over Mitchell’s row with the police, which was first reported in The Sun newspaper and quickly became known as “Plebgate” in the British media.
Speculation over his position reached fever pitch after he was unable to attend the Conservatives’ annual conference in the industrial city of Birmingham, which neighbours his own constituency as a lawmaker.
But the Conservatives continue to face accusations of being a party of the privileged.
Hours before Mitchell quit, finance minister George Osborne was embroiled in a row after he got into a first class train carriage with only a standard ticket.
It emerged later that Osborne paid to upgrade his ticket, while both his spokesman and rail company Virgin Trains dismissed initial reports that Osborne’s aide had refused to pay.
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