Home secretary has no confidence in West Midlands police chief

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood says she has lost confidence in the chief constable of West Midlands Police after Israeli football fans were banned from a match against Aston Villa.

Mahmood told MPs that the police watchdog’s “damning” review of the intelligence that led to the ban of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans showed a “failure of leadership”.

Police apologize, saying they did not deliberately distort evidence used by Birmingham Safety Advisory Group For the November 6 match.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford remains in his post but faces a meeting on January 27 for questioning by Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, who has the power to sack him.

Mahmood told the House of Commons on Wednesday that he plans to give home secretaries back the power to sack chief constables who are “letting their communities down”.

Guildford wrote to him apologizing for providing false evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, including denying the use of artificial intelligence in a report that led to the ban of Israeli fans.

Mahmood told MPs Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke had found “confirmation bias” in police intelligence gathering.

He said: “We discovered that the force had little contact with the Jewish community and no interaction with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was made.”

Sir Andy’s interim report, commissioned by Mahmood, found that “rather than following the evidence, the force merely sought details to support their desired position to ban supporters”, Mahmood told MPs.

“It shows that the police exaggerated the threat posed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and underestimated the risk Israeli fans would face if they went to the area,” he said.

The decision to bar fans from the match was made by the city’s security group based on evidence shared by police.

In its apology, Guildford acknowledged that AI aided searches and provided false evidence to aid in the decision.

Some of the intelligence mentioned a fixture between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham that did not take place.

At hearings on December 1 and January 6, Guildford told the Home Affairs Select Committee that it was not a Google search that provided the incorrect information, but rather that the force was “not using artificial intelligence”.

In his letter to the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, published on Wednesday, Guildford said the information “came to light as a result of the use of Microsoft Copilot” and offered a “deep apology” for the error.

Sir Andy’s review found eight inaccuracies in the report sent by police to the Birmingham watchdog group, including references to the non-existent Tel Aviv-West Ham match.

Others included an exaggeration of the number of Dutch police officers deployed during the Maccabi match in Amsterdam and allegations that Muslim communities were deliberately targeted by Tel Aviv fans.

The decision to ban the watchdog group, which includes representatives from the council, police and other authorities, sparked political outrage, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Guildford insisted the decision was not politically influenced.

The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews said in a joint statement that the interim report confirmed their “long-standing concerns”.

“The threats posed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have been exaggerated based on numerous false claims and the actual risk to them has been underestimated,” they said.

“The HMIC report also confirmed that there had been a failure in relations with the local Jewish community.”

They called on Foster to “use his authority” and remove Guildford “without delay”.

“This case highlights wider concerns about factors affecting police judgment and decision-making,” they added.

West Midlands Police (WMP) said it would continue the audit and said the findings revealed the “unintentional nature” of the errors.

“We are extremely sorry for the impact these have had on individuals and communities,” a spokesman said.

“We are taking immediate action to address the issues raised in these preliminary findings.

“We recognize that errors were made, but we reiterate the findings that none of them were made with intent to distort or discriminate.”

They said planning for the football game was about “public safety of all communities.”

“We will now work tirelessly to rebuild trust in West Midlands Police,” the force added.

Foster said he wanted to question Guildford further at a meeting of the Accountability and Governance Board scheduled for January 27.

He said he acknowledged the “considerable strength of feeling” on the issue and had read Sir Andy’s “preliminary views”.

“This letter was sent to me before today without any notice or knowledge of its contents. I must now consider it carefully and in detail,” Foster said.

Foster added that it was his legal duty to hold Guildford to account and that he planned to “fully and accurately consider” matters.

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker and Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton also called for Guildford’s resignation.

Following Mahmood’s statement, shadow home secretary Chris Philp also called for the police chief to be sacked, describing the incident as a “disgraceful incident”.

He said the WMP had failed to act against the threat of “brutal antisemitism” and that this had been done “through weakness and fear”.

Philp also opposed Mahmood’s idea of ​​restoring home ministers’ power to sack police chiefs, adding: “He should stop pretending he doesn’t have the power and actually take action.”