A police chief is under massive pressure today after being battered by MPs over the decision to ban Israeli football fans from attending a match in the UK.
Craig Guildford, who heads the West Midlands force, has been warned by Jewish groups and Kemi Badenoch that his position is ‘untenable’ in the wake of an extraordinary Commons committee hearing.
It is understood Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is due to get an initial assessment of the intelligence used to justify the restrictions from the police watchdog next week.
Mr Guildford was grilled yesterday over why it was thought necessary to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from coming to the fixture against Aston Villa in November.
The restriction was placed on the game at Villa Park by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.
The decision by the SAG – which is made up of representatives from the council, police and other authorities – sparked political outrage, including from Keir Starmer.
Since then, doubts have been growing over the intelligence used by police, including disputes over the accuracy of information.
Pressure is mounting for Craig Guildford, the chief constable of West Midlands Police (WMP), to be sacked over the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending an Aston Villa match
Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv were banned from their Europa League fixture at Villa Park on November 6 (file picture of supporters at a separate match in Amsterdam)
Newly published documents show police were warned that locals in the majority Muslim community had planned to ‘arm’ themselves if Maccabi fans showed up – evidence that Mr Guildford has been accused of ‘hiding’.
Gathered intelligence also showed ‘local hostility towards the visitors based on their nationality’.
Home Affairs Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley told Mr Guildford that it seemed the police had been ‘scraping’ to find a reason for the ban.
‘It feels to us, from everything we’ve seen, that there was a need that you felt, that you had to justify banning these fans, and that scraping was done to find a reason,’ she said.
Mr Guildford – who was at the committee for the second time – replied: ‘I’m really sorry if it comes across in that way. That was absolutely not the case.
‘The information, the intelligence that we received, that we documented, and we’ve shared absolutely all of that with HMICFRS (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services) very, very recently was all gone through.’
He added a mistake that was made with regards to intelligence about West Ham United that was from ‘one individual doing one Google search because he couldn’t find the reference, because it wasn’t there within the system’.
Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara added open source research is ‘not unusual’ in police intelligence-gathering.
Challenged that it appeared information had been created by the police after political pressure, Mr Guildford said: ‘I think that is a really important question, it’s a really important democratic question, and last time I answered that and I gave a very similar answer, from everything that I’ve read, and the commanders that I spoke to, I do not believe that there was political influence on that decision. I don’t believe that to be the case.
‘I believe the information that we provided and the advice provided to the SAG and the decision making by the SAG and all those around the table in the SAG, please ask this of people that come in after us, and please get the audio of the SAG, I am sure that the SAG chair took into account what people thought.
‘My personal opinion is there wasn’t any political interference.’
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was among the voices calling for Craig Guildford to step down or be removed after evidence emerged surrounding the decision to stop fans of the Israeli football team travelling to Villa Park in November.
Ms Badenoch wrote on X: ‘West Midlands Police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up.
‘They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead.
‘We have had enough of this in Britain. The Chief Constable’s position is untenable. The British police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.’
Life peer Lord Austin of Dudley, who is an Aston Villa fan, added to those calling for the chief constable to go, calling the situation a ‘shameful cover-up’.
He said: ‘We now find out West Midlands Police hid evidence that violent Islamist thugs in Birmingham were planning to ‘arm themselves’ to attack Jewish football fans.
‘But instead of dealing with these violent, racist extremists, they banned the Israeli fans from coming, then fitted up the evidence to support that decision, lied about the reasons, blamed the Israelis themselves and even falsely claimed the Jewish community supported it.
It is understood Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is due to get an initial assessment of the intelligence used to justify the restrictions from the police watchdog next week
‘It has been a shameful cover-up and the Chief Constable must either resign or be fired.’
Tory MP Nick Timothy called on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to step into the fray and remove Mr Guildford.
West Mids Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara told the committee that the force had ‘learned a lot’ about ‘our engagement with the Jewish community’.
‘I think if there is a silver lining in this whole situation, it’s the fact that we are working, I think, closer and more strategically with the local Jewish community in the West Midlands,’ he said.
‘I feel we have developed and continue to develop stronger and more collaborative working arrangements.’