West Midlands Police chief faces resignation calls over Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban

A West Midlands Police chief is facing calls to stand down over his handling of a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans attending a game in Birmingham.

Shadow Home Office Minister Katie Lam told MPs: “What we have seen at West Midlands police is a serious breakdown of leadership and accountability.

“It is simply extraordinary that the force made up of ‘intelligence’ and made false public statements.

The chief constable has serious questions to answer, and if he cannot satisfactorily answer them, he must resign.”

Chief Constable Craig Guildford, of West Midlands Police, has been recalled by the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday to answer further questions, including claims he falsely suggested that Jewish leaders were consulted over the fan ban.

Guilford previously told the committee that he had contacted “key community figures such as the chair of Birmingham and West Midlands Jewish Community, Ruth Jacobs,” ahead of the announcement of the fan ban last October.

But Jacobs said this was not the case.

In the Commons on Monday, the Tory MP Nick Timothy said: “On 7 October, the police told a private meeting that they planned to ban Israeli fans from Villa Park. That was, to quote the minutes, ‘in the absence of intelligence.

“On 9 October, they accepted that they needed to find a clearer rationale for the decision already made. On 16 October, they said they had suddenly found significant intelligence for a ban.

“That supposedly came from a conversation with the Dutch police on 1 October, before the first meeting held in the ‘absence of intelligence’. Does the Home Secretary believe West Midlands police—yes or no?”

Police minister Sarah Jones responded that the government “have asked His Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary and fire and rescue services to look at that and we are waiting to see what it has to say. ”

She added, “That is absolutely the right thing to do. Did we disagree with the decision? Yes, we did. Do we want to get to the bottom of what happened? “Absolutely, we do.”

Earlier, Jones had told MPs that the government was awaiting the responses from West Midlands Police chiefs at Tuesday’s committee hearing before forming a view on whether they should resign.

It had emerged that two Birmingham councillors kmown for holding anti-Israel views had been on the safety advisory group in the city that pressed for the Maccabi fan ban.

West Midlands Police has also been accused of exaggerating the violence in Amsterdam when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Ajax in November 2024 to justify the ban at Villa Park for the Europa League game against Aston Villa last year.

On Tuesday afternoon MPs will also quiz Chief Constable Mark Roberts, head of the football policing unit, and John Cotton, the Labour leader of Birmingham city council over the decision.