West Midlands chief constable Craig Guildford could be shown a red card after Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were barred from travelling to the game at Aston Villa by the local safety advisory group
A police chief should be sacked over claims he “misled parliament” over the decision to ban Israeli football fans, MPs are set to tell the home secretary.
West Midlands chief constable Craig Guildford could be shown a red card after Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were barred from travelling to the game at Aston Villa by the local safety advisory group.
MPs on the home affairs select committee are thought to be “unanimous in their disappointment” at the evidence given by the force.
And they have accused cops of an own goal over “retrospectively gathered evidence to suit their decision-making” rather than basing last November’s ban on intelligence at the time.
One unnamed MP said sacking Guildford would be “the nuclear option” but said there was now “no other option” if their suspicions were confirmed.
The MP said: “I do believe strongly in the principle of police operational independence, but when you’ve got a community that’s lost all faith in its police force, and the potential that they have misled parliament, and it’s looking that way at the moment, then I don’t see any other option for the home secretary.”
The row centres on talks between West Midlands police and their Dutch counterparts after violent scenes marred a match involving the Israeli club in Amsterdam.
British officers told councillors and MPs the Dutch had warned them about Maccabi’s travelling supporters – which the mayor of Amsterdam has branded “nonsensical”.
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is understood to be keeping all options on the table.
She cannot directly sack Guildford but can publicly withdraw confidence and write to the police and crime commissioner asking him to consider suspension and dismissal.
Sir Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary, is probing the row and is set to report to Mahmood this week.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The government has been clear throughout that we disagreed with the decision to ban away fans.
“We cannot comment further until the home secretary has received the chief inspectorate’s findings and considered them.”
West Midlands Police was contacted for comment.