Last night, the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police found himself in a rare confrontation with the Home Secretary, determined to hold onto his position amid mounting pressure.
Despite calls for his resignation, Craig Guildford stood firm while a Labour police and crime commissioner chose not to dismiss him, following a scathing inquest into the force’s decision to prohibit Jewish football fans from attending a Birmingham match last year.
In dramatic proceedings at the Commons, Shabana Mahmood expressed a loss of confidence in the Chief Constable after reviewing the ‘devastating’ findings of the report.
This marks the first instance in over two decades where a Home Secretary has exerted such pressure on a police force’s leader to step down, a move that garnered broad support across party lines.
However, the Home Secretary acknowledged her lack of legal authority to dismiss Mr. Guildford, even as she accused him of eroding public trust in law enforcement across the country.
The power to remove him lies solely with the local PCC, although in a display of her exasperation, Ms. Mahmood indicated plans to reclaim that authority in the future.
As the hours ticked by following her explosive statement, it became clear Mr Guildford would not be leaving his post voluntarily. He was said to be insisting to colleagues that he would ‘see out the week’ in the hope that it ‘would all blow over’.
‘He wants due process, he won’t accept it,’ a source said.
West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford at Home Affairs Committee on January 6
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs the findings of the report into West Midlands Police were ‘damning’. It is the first time in more than 20 years that a Home Secretary has put such pressure on the head of a police force to go
Ire then turned on PCC Simon Foster who faced demands he ‘do his job and fire Craig Guildford’.
The former solicitor, however, said he would defer his decision until he had given the findings of the 11-page report ‘full and proper consideration’ ahead of a public meeting with the Chief Constable at the end of the month.
Yesterday’s deadlock came after Sir Andy Cooke, Chief Inspector of Constabulary, blasted senior police for fabricating and exaggerating evidence to justify banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from travelling to their game against Aston Villa last November.
His report identified widespread failings by West Midlands Police in overstating the threat posed by Israeli fans, citing inaccurate information about links between fans and the Israeli Defence Forces, the targeting of Muslim communities, the burning of Palestinian flags and attacks on police officers.
As the decision then caused an almighty backlash, condemned by the Prime Minister as ‘wrong’, the force then mislead the public, the audit found.
And hours before the watchdog’s report was published, Mr Guildford apologised for misleading MPs to whom he had given evidence last month after it emerged that the force had even used an ‘AI hallucination’ to try to justify the ban, citing ‘evidence’ from a Maccabi match that never happened.
In a blistering attack, the Home Secretary told the Commons: ‘We have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed the reputation of and eroded public confidence in West Midlands police, and policing more broadly.
‘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.’
Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside the stadium as Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were barred from travelling to the game at Villa Park in November by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force
The last Home Secretary to make such a statement was David Blunkett in 2004, when he suspended then Humberside Chief David Westwood over failures to highlight the risk posed by Ian Huntley before he murdered ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, two years previously.
Ms Mahmood said of Sir Andy’s report: ‘It catalogues failures that did not just affect the travelling fans, but let down our entire Jewish community in the West Midlands and across the country.
‘Peaceful, harmonious communities rely on a police service that, above all else, pursues the truth.
‘We live in a world where misinformation flows freely and dangerously; in this case, the police added further misinformation to the public debate, when they could and should have provided the truth, which could have allayed fears.’
MPs from across the political spectrum queued up to call for Mr Guildford to go.
Shadow Home Secretary, Conservative Chris Philp condemned the ‘shameful episode,’ accusing the force of having ‘capitulated to the Islamist mob by banning the Maccabi fans’.
He said the police’s claims amounted to a ‘pack of lies from start to finish,’ adding: ‘The chief constable must be fired.’
Gurinder Singh Josan, Labour MP for Smethwick in the West Midlands, said he joined ‘the calls for the chief constable to resign his position forthwith, and others involved in this shameful episode.’
Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton demanded Mr Guildford stand down and one Birmingham Labour MP, Laurence Turner, said: ‘It is clear that the chief constable’s position is untenable’.
Antonia Bance, another Labour West Midlands MP representing Tipton, said: ‘It is clearly time for the chief constable to go.’
The force last night issued a statement admitting the ‘unintentional nature of our errors’, but failed to address its leader’s future.
A spokesman said: ‘We are extremely sorry for the impact these have had on individuals and their communities.
‘We are taking immediate action to address the matters raised in these preliminary findings.
‘We know that mistakes were made but reiterate the findings that none of this was done with an intent of deliberate distortion or discrimination.’
