BREAKING: Shabana Mahmood tells MPs she now not has confidence in West Midlands Police chief
A failure of leadership led to Israeli football fans being wrongly banned from a match in Birmingham, the Home Secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood told MPs that a review she commissioned into the decision by West Midlands Police was damning. She said she no longer has confidence in the force’s chief Craig Guildford.
Ms Mahmood said West Midlands Police “sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.” She told silent MPs in the Commons: “The ultimate responsibility for the force’s failure to discharge its duties on a matter of such national importance rests with the Chief Constable, and it is for that reason that I must declare today that the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence.
“It has been, as I understand it, over 20 years since a Home Secretary last made such a statement. But on the evidence provided by Sir Andy Cook, the Chief Inspector of Policing, that is now the case.”
The police chief has faced mounting pressure and calls to resign over the ban. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were barred from travelling to the game at Villa Park by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.
Earlier Mr Guildford apologised for giving incorrect information to MPs – blaming the error on an incorrect Google search. He admitted in a letter to Dame Karen Bradley, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, that he and Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara had given wrong intelligence over a West Ham match with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The police chief – who gave evidence to the committee twice – wrote: “Both ACC O’Hara and I had, up until Friday afternoon, understood that the West Ham match had only been identified through the use of Google.
“I would like to offer my profound apology to the Committee for this error, both on behalf of myself and that of ACC O’Hara. I had understood and been advised that the match had been identified by way of a Google search in preparation for attending HAC.
“My belief that this was the case was honestly held and there was no intention to mislead the Committee.”
During the select committee hearing on January 6, MPs asked Mr Guildford if any artificial intelligence had been used in the force’s process.
He said: “There was a definite note that we’ve got to the bottom of in terms of the West Ham game. The summation, I think in the House, it was a question that was asked in the House was that, you know, you’ve used the AI, or West Midlands may have used AI on this particular occasion.
“We don’t do that. We don’t use the AI.”
According to the Guardian, the report from chief inspector of constabulary Sir Andy Cooke will say West Midlands Police made a series of errors in how it gathered and handled intelligence.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary has this morning received the Chief Inspectorate’s findings into the recommendation by West Midlands Police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa.
“She will carefully consider the letter and will make a statement in the House of Commons in response later today.”
The power to sack Mr Guildford lies with West Midlands police and crime commissioner Simon Foster, who has said he will formally review evidence on decision-making around the ban.
