LONDON (AP) – Britain’s home secretary on Wednesday urged the head of one of Britain’s major police forces to resign following reports of police misconduct. Fans of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv banned from entering From the Premier League match against Aston Villa held in Birmingham last year.
Shabana Mahmoud told MPs that an independent report had found a “lack of leadership” in West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, adding that she had “no longer confidence” in him.
The ban comes at a time of growing concern over anti-Semitism in the UK. Deadly attack on Manchester synagogue He is calling on Palestinians and their supporters to boycott Israeli sports over the war with Hamas in Gaza.
The decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match against Aston Villa on November 6 was widely criticized, including by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
West Midlands Police said at the time that the match was deemed to be a high risk “based on current information and past incidents”, including violence and hate crimes that occurred when Maccabi played Ajax. in Amsterdam last season.
Mr Guildford did not immediately comment on Wednesday’s report, but West Midlands Police said “an error had been made” without mentioning the chief constable.
Mr Mahmoud said Sergeant Andy Cooke’s report found that West Midlands Police had exaggerated the threat posed by Maccabi fans while underestimating the potential risk to them, and had “carried out little engagement with the Jewish community” before the decision was made.
She said the report noted that “the force only sought evidence to support its preferred position of banning fans.” The report did not find that police were anti-Semitic.
Mahmoud also noted that police at the time referred to a non-existent match between Maccabi and Premier League West Ham in 2023, which was deemed to be an “AI hallucination”. Mr Guildford had previously denied that AI was to blame for the mistake, but apologized on Wednesday ahead of the publication of the report.
Mr Mahmoud said that as a result of policy changes by the previous Conservative government in 2011, he did not have the power to sack Mr Guildford, but he wanted to restore that power to the home secretary. Currently, locally elected police and crime commissioners have that power.
West Midlands Secretary Simon Foster acknowledged the “considerable strength of emotion” surrounding the controversy and said he would seek further answers from Mr Guildford at a public meeting of the Accountability and Governance Committee on January 27.
