West Midlands Police chief ‘no longer has my confidence’ says Home Secretary
Review by a policing watchdog into West Midlands Police sent to the Home Office is 'damning'
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford “no longer has my confidence” after a damning report into the force’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa.
A review by a policing watchdog into West Midlands Police sent to the Home Office is “damning” and shows “confirmation bias” over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa in Birmingham, the Home Secretary has told MPs.
West Midlands Police (WMP) “failed to consult representatives of the local Jewish community early enough” when it was considering banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the team’s game with Aston Villa, the police watchdog said.
Police “overstated” the level of disorder at a previous fixture involving Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam and the extent to which Israeli fans were responsible for it, the watchdog also found.
While the report did not find evidence of antisemitism within West Midlands Police conduct on the matter, it still represented a damning indictment of Chief Constable Craig Guildford’s leadership.
The report accused the police of “confirmation bias” over travelling Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and of seeking to find evidence to back up their already taken decision to ban Israelis from the Europa League match in Birmingham.
“The force told us it decided to take this approach in an effort to avid increasing community tension,” added the report.
In his letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Sir Andy Cooke wrote: “Well before WMP prepared its written report to the Sag (Safety Advisory Group), it consulted regional and national representatives of the Jewish community through the Community Security Trust (CST).
“But the force failed to consult representatives of the local Jewish community early enough, despite being warned by a CST representative that he did not speak on behalf of the local community. In fact, by the time the force did consult locally, it had already recommended to the Sag that the ticket allocation for away fans be reduced to zero.”
His letter later added: “WMP told us that its contact with members of the local Jewish community was limited out of respect for a number of high holy days in the weeks prior to 16 October 2025. I don’t accept this; I believe that the force missed opportunities, both before and during these religiously significant periods, to effectively engage with members of the local Jewish community.”
HM Inspector of Constabulary found eight “inaccuracies” in a report from the force to Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (Sag).
They included reference to a non-existent game between Tel Aviv and West Ham, found to be an “AI hallucination” produced by Microsoft Copilot.
Other inaccuracies included overstating the number of Dutch police officers deployed during the match, claims fans were linked to the Israeli Defence Forces, claims Muslim communities had been intentionally targeted by Tel Aviv fans and reports of multiple Dutch police officers being injured in the disorder.
Among further concerns, Sir Andy highlighted “shortcomings” in the force’s command structure, poor record keeping – including of a meeting with Dutch police, and an “imbalance in communications” in what informed the police recommendation.
The police “focused on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans’ behaviour as the basis for the restriction on away fans”, when there were also other factors they should have communicated better, including “wider concerns about public safety and protest”, Sir Andy said.
Mahmood confirmed she had first learned of the move to try to ban Maccabi fans from the game last November on October 8 at a meeting with chief constables.
But she said she did not seek to influence the decision at this time “because I could not.”
She said that as a result of a law passed in 2011, the Home Secretary no longer had power to influence matters, and that the police were allowed operational Independence.
Mahmood told MPs “failure of leadership” has “harmed the reputation and eroded public confidence in West Midlands Police and policing more broadly.”
The Home Secretary told the Commons: “Faced by a game of such importance, the chief constable of the force, Craig Guildford, should have ensured more professional and thorough work was done.
“As Sir Andy (Cooke) himself says, the shortcomings detailed in his report are, and I quote, ‘symptomatic of a force not applying the necessary strategic oversight and not paying enough attention to important matters of detail, including at the most senior levels’.”
The Home Secretary added “we have witnessed a failure of leadership” over West Midlands Police’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
The report sent to the Home Secretary by Fire and Police Inspectorate did not though find any evidence of antisemitism or political inteference within the police force in regards to their decision.
In an astonishing intervention , the pro-Gaza independent MP Ayoub Khan arose to claim the report into police was “a witch-hunt” and that the Chief Inspector was being “thrown under a bus.”
Khan was shouted down by many MPs in the House as he spoke.
Mahmood responded to Khan saying:”He used to be a barrister, you’d think he’d be more cognisant of the actual facts.”
Addressing the Commons on Wednesday, Shabana Mahmood said a report into the ban by chief inspector of constabulary Sir Andy Cooke had been “damning”.
She said: “The force, we now discover, conducted little engagement with the Jewish community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken.”
She said Sir Andy’s report characterised the police’s approach as “confirmation bias” and “rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans”.
“He shows that the police overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, while understating the risk that was posed to the Israeli fans if they travelled to the area.
“Misleading communications also extend to the words of the Chief Constable himself at his appearance in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee, when he claimed that AI tools were not used to prepare intelligence reports, a claim since refuted by one of his own officers, who blames incorrect evidence on an ‘AI hallucination’.
“What is clear from this report is that on an issue of huge significance to the Jewish community in this country and to us all, we have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed the reputation and eroded public schools.”
Labour MP Peter Prinsley also raised concern about the possibility of “political interference” within the work of Birmingham Safety Advisory Group.
Prinsley made reference to the benches on which pro-Gaza MPs such as Khan were sitting.
Mahmood has said she is not able to dismiss Guildford herself, because that power lies with the police and crime commissioner.
However, she vowed to reintroduce the power of home secretaries to be able to dismiss chief constables “in light of significant or persistent failings”.
Mahmood said: “Until 2011, the Home Secretary had the authority to dismiss a chief constable, a power that was removed by the last Conservative government.
“Today, it is only police and crime commissioners who hold this power, and so the chief constable’s future rests with the local police and crime commissioner and not with me. But I am sure that Simon Foster will now follow all due process as he considers that question for himself.
“I do, however, believe this illustrates that home secretaries should, in future, have this power restored to them. When a chief constable is responsible for a damaging failure of leadership, the public rightly expect the Home Secretary to act, and I intend to restore their ability to do so.
“I can announce today that this Government will soon reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to dismiss chief constables in light of significant or persistent failings, and that this will be part of the Government’s upcoming white paper on wider police reform, with legislation to follow.
“I do not expect this power to be used often, but I think it must be available at those rare moments when it is warranted.”
Mahmood corrected shadow home secretary Chris Philp when he claimed she had the powers to sack Chief Constable Craig Guildford.
Responding to her statement Philp said she still had the powers to sack Guildford under laws from 1996. He said the situation was a “shameful episode”, and the threat to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was “vicious antisemitism”.
Mahmood replied: “It was the Conservative government that removed the Home Secretary’s direct power to remove a chief constable. It used to be a power contained within section 42 of the Police Act 1996. That was repealed by the Conservatives in their 2011 Police and Social Responsibility Act, which explicitly removed the power.”
She quoted from the explanatory notes from the 2011 act. “The Secretary of State does not have power to direct a police and crime commissioner to suspend or remove a chief constable.”
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