Wes Streeting ‘shocked’ police chief behind Maccabi Tel Aviv ban still in post | Police
A senior cabinet minister said the West Midlands police chief would be “horrified” if he remained in his job “until the end of the day” and described his behavior as a “stain on his character”.
There are growing calls for Craig Guildford, who leads West Midlands police, to resign following a damning report by the inspector general’s office criticizing the force’s handling of intelligence used to justify a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League match in November.
Speaking to Times Radio on Thursday, health minister Wes Streeting said: “I’m absolutely surprised he’s still in office. “He’s misled Parliament, he’s misled the public, and even though one of his own local MPs, the home secretary, has said he’s lost confidence in him, I really thought anyone with integrity would be saying ‘I need to resign’ at this point.
“I actually think it’s a blemish on his character that this doesn’t happen, he won’t be able to handle it if he doesn’t act quickly.
“I hope he does the right thing. I’d be horrified if he’s still in office at the end of the day.”
The report into the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban by chief inspector Sir Andy Cooke found several errors in the way the West Midlands force gathered intelligence about the risks of Maccabi fans coming to Birmingham.
The report said the threat had been “hugely exaggerated” and left a security committee relying on police intelligence “with little or no option” but to ban them.
He said the agency made misleading statements not because of anti-Semitism but because of “confirmation bias” and “carelessness rather than deliberate distortion.” Nor was it because Israel had bowed to political pressure from those outraged in Birmingham over its alleged genocide in Gaza.
The report led home secretary Shabana Mahmood to say she had lost confidence in Guildford; It was the first time in 20 years that an interior minister said this about a serving police officer. However, Guildford retained his post and continued his work.
The only person who could sack the chief constable is West Midlands police and crime commissioner Simon Foster, who has said he will consider Cooke’s report, the findings from the home affairs select committee and hold a public grilling of Guildford later this month before making his decision.
It came as West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, Birmingham city council leader John Cotton and several local MPs called on Guildford to resign.
In response to the inspectorate’s report, West Midlands police apologized for their errors and added that they had not deliberately distorted the evidence used by the council-led safety advisory group that made the decision to remove fans.
In a letter from the chief constable published by the home affairs committee on Wednesday, Guildford apologized for providing inaccurate evidence collected using artificial intelligence.
The force said it had “taken immediate action to address the issues raised in these preliminary findings” in the inspectorate’s report.
