LONDON — Britain’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has publicly called for the resignation of West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford following a scathing independent report on the controversial banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from a November 2023 match against Aston Villa in Birmingham.
The damning assessment by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke revealed what Mahmood described as “devastating” failures in the police force’s handling of the high-profile international soccer event. The report found that West Midlands Police significantly overstated security threats posed by Israeli fans while simultaneously underestimating risks to their safety during travel to the match.
Speaking before Parliament on Wednesday, Mahmood declared: “The ultimate responsibility for the force’s failure to discharge its duties on a matter of such national importance rests with the chief constable. It is for that reason that I must declare today that the chief constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence.”
The controversial ban, implemented during a period of heightened tensions following both a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue and the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, drew widespread criticism including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Police had initially justified the decision citing “current intelligence and previous incidents,” referencing violence during Maccabi’s previous match against Ajax in Amsterdam.
However, the inspector’s report uncovered critical procedural failures, noting that authorities conducted “little engagement with the Jewish community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham” before implementing the ban. The investigation characterized the police approach as exhibiting “confirmation bias,” indicating that rather than following evidence, “the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.” The report explicitly cleared the force of antisemitism allegations.
Mahmood revealed that due to a 2011 policy change by the previous Conservative government, she lacks direct authority to dismiss Guildford for this “failure of leadership” but is actively seeking to reinstate that power to future home secretaries. Currently, only locally elected police and crime commissioners hold dismissal authority.
Chief Constable Guildford has not yet issued any public statement regarding the report or the home secretary’s demand for his resignation.