Live updates as West Midlands police chief 'faces axe' for 'misleading MPs'

Statement just out by West Midlands Police - with no mention of the Chief Constable or his position.

They say: "We continue to actively engage and support HMICFRS's inspection.

"We have received a copy of the preliminary review today and acknowledge that this recognises the unintentional nature of our errors.

"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.

"West Midlands Police is an anti-discriminatory organisation and our planning for this football match was always about public safety of all communities.

"We continue to focus on protecting the public of West Midlands and improving our services, as we have done relentlessly during the last several years.

"We will now work tirelessly to rebuild confidence in West Midlands Police."

I missed this important question and response from the Commons debate earlier. In reply to a question from Bradley Thomas (Con), the Home Secretary said:

"These findings, of course, do not suggest that anybody at the police force level acted because there were motivated by antisemitism, or with malign intent.

"But it is undoubtedly the case that some individuals who are making representations to the police may well have been motivated by antisemitism. I also know others made good faith representations, or wanted to make good faith representations, to the police just about the fear of public disorder on the night."

Mahmood was referring to this line from Sir Andy Cooke’s report, which states: "In respect of any individual officers, the evidence I have seen doesn’t point to their actions having been influenced by political interference, antisemitism, any other lack of impartiality, or malign intent."

The Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has spoken about today's findings for the first time - and despite a massive clamour to sack the chief constable, he has set out why he doesn't intend to, at least not for now.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, has refused to bow to massive pressure to immediately sack the force's chief constable over the controversial decision to ban Israeli away fans from a Villa match.

Full story here: 'No sacking for now' vow from Police and Crime Commissioner amid calls to axe Chief Constable

In a measured statement, issued at 4.15pm this afternoon, Wednesday January 14, the PCC has rejected multiple calls for him to act immediately to oust Craig Guildford following publication of a damning interim report into his chief constable's handling of the ban decision over the Maccabi Tel Aviv game last November.

He says he will not act until after he has had time to review the report, further reviews and has taken the opportunity to quiz the chief constable at a local committee meeting later this month.

We are still waiting to hear from West Midlands Police and Chief Constable Craig Guildford.

The following statement by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, relates to the ongoing scrutiny of the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the football match against Aston Villa on 6 November 2026.

“I acknowledge, recognise and understand the significant strength of feeling that is shared by many people, including myself, in connection with this contentious issue.

“His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary has written a letter to the Home Secretary to set out his ‘preliminary views’, in relation to the match assessment and categorisation carried out by West Midlands Police around the Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Aston Villa fixture on 6 November 2025.

“I have been sent that letter having had no sight of, or briefing on, its contents before today. I must now give it careful and detailed consideration.

“The letter is not the final HMICFRS report. It describes how the Chief Inspector’s views may ‘develop or change’ as more information is gathered.

“I have listened to the Home Secretary’s statement in the House of Commons and the questions that followed.

“I await the Home Affairs Select Committee report.

"It is my statutory duty to hold the Chief Constable to account for the totality of policing in the West Midlands.

"In order to give all these issues full and proper consideration, I will be taking this matter to a meeting of my Accountability and Governance Board, held in public, on Tuesday 27 January 2026 and asking questions of the Chief Constable.

"In consideration of these matters, it is vital that all involved act in accordance with due process and the law at all times.”

Powerful line here from Home Secretary that might be lost in the thousands of words being written about this issue. She told the House of Commons: "There are many people acting in bad faith and with malign intent who are keen to set Britain's Muslims against Britain's Jews. It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that does not succeed."

Laurence Turner, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, says he had previously raised his serious concern about the decision and how it was reached. "The chief constable's position is untenable," he added.

He paid tribute to local police officers keeping our communities safe, but adds: "If there was a sufficient and professional culture followed at every level and by every individual at WMP...this decision would never have been made. There must be sufficient assurance that other decisions, including those that don't have a national profile but are important....are not tainted by a similar failure of process."

Measures must be put in place to ensure the highest operational standards are maintained for everyone at Birmingham (if the chief constable resigns or is sacked), he added.

In response the Home Secretary said the inspector had not made a finding of wider systemic failure but that she was sure the PCC and local MPs would want to assure themselves about this.

Birmingham City Council's safety advisory group members who took part in reaching the ban decision should also be held to account, says Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley MP Tahir Ali.

He got up in the Commons to point the finger at councillors who he says put their personal views ahead of fact finding.

He doesn't name them but he is talking about Cllr Waseem Zaffar, Lab, Lozells, and Cllr Mumtaz Hussain, Lib Dems, Aston. They both took part in the decision making meeting of the SAG on October 16th that unanimously backed a ban, and both had previously made representations pressing for the game to not go ahead or be boycotted.

Said Ali: "I think it was right and proper to have an independent report, the findings of which nobody can challenge...but it was not just the chief constable that should be the scapegoat here...the safety advisory group included members who were biased and in there with an agenda, including some I am ashamed to say in my own party.

"Should the home secretary agree that tough action should be taken against individuals who set out to influence the decision on a personal basis rather than as an independent member?"

In response the Home Secretary said that Sir Andy Cook would be returning in a fuller comprehensive to the role and function and membership of Safety Advisory Groups in a later report.

But she added she 'shared the concern that is incumbent on us to ensure the arrangements we have in place that are capable of delivering dispassionate, fact based findings as to what risk an event poses - and other political agendas are not brought into play."

In the Commons Reform UK's Richard Tice asks what would happen if Simon Foster, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, decides not to sack Craig Guildford as chief constable.

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said it was a decision for him, and it would be wrong for her to comment. New statutory powers are on their way for Home Secretaries to reclaim the power to sack chief constables, she has said.

Ayoub Khan's contribution to the debate earlier this afternoon was greeted with mutters and jeers and a cry of 'disgrace'.

He says to the House of Commons: "This is truly a sad day for British politics. But despite all the rhetoric we have heard in this House, Brummies know the truth - this is nothing but a witchhunt of the chief constable who has been thrown under the bus."

He says the force has a reputation for working with all communities and have never caved in to community pressure, policing far right marches and protests regularly that communities would prefer not to happen.

"Could the police have done a better job, yes, but the reasons for banning the Maccabi fans was the same as from day one - we all know the unashamed racism and violence they would have bought to the streets of Birmingham."

He added: "The police did their job and now they are being punished for it...is it worth throwing our chief constable under the bus just to show the words of right wing media and Dutch officials, under pressure from Amsterdam City Hall, matter more than our British police."

In response, Shabana Mahmood said she was responding to the independent findings of the inspectors and urged him to 'reflect'. People deserve to know that we can trust and rely on police assessments, and that is something required for the collective safety and cohesion of our country, she said.

West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, who has not previously spoken out on the matter, has now said the chief constable must go. He said: "Policing depends on clarity, transparency and accountability. That's how trust is built.

"People across the West Midlands need to feel full confidence in their police and in the leadership of the force. These events have badly tested that confidence.

"And at this point, it's very hard to see how that trust can be repaired while things remain as they are. I don't think the Chief Constable's position is tenable."

Full story here

Questions have been asked about the role of the Home Secretary, who was informed that a decision over the Maccabi Tel Aviv game was imminent eight days before the ban was announced.

She was informed on October 8, by Craig Guildford, at a meeting of senior chief constables, that an option being considered was a ban on the club's fans along with two other options.

She did nothing to intervene until after the decision of a ban was announced on October 16. Chris Philp, MP, described this as inexcusable and said she was 'asleep at the wheel'.

Speaking to the House of Commons she said it was 'categorically untrue' for the chief constable to have since claimed he had told the Home Secretary that a ban was on its way on October 8th.

She said it was clear to her, and confirmed by the national football policing unit, that 'all options were still on the table' at that point and the next thing she knew about it was when the ban decision was made public on October 16th.

Chris Philp, Conservative shadow home secretary, described 'a shameful episode'.

Referring to claims that later emerged of intelligence pointing to people in the West Midlands 'wanting to arm' ahead of the arrival of the Israeli cohort, he said: "West Midlands Police had evidence that Islamist extremists based in Birmingham planned to attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Let's call that what it is - it is vicious, anti-Semitic, and we cannot allow violent Islamists to impose their will on our country."

Going back through the Home Secretary's statement, as MPs continue to debate the findings, there is much to mull over.

This was a critical line on 'misinformation':

"In a world in which misinformation spreads so freely and dangerously, the police in this case added further misinformation into our public debate when they could and should have provided the truth that could have allayed fears. In doing so, West Midlands Police did not support community relations. Instead, they inadvertentley made things worse. This must serve as a lesson to police."

Sir Andy Cook was critical of the police's handling of intel gathering around the match a year earlier between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam. A critical 'zoom call' between the force's head of football policing, Chief Insp Mike Wilkinson, and three Dutch commanders who had policed the game was not recorded.

A handwritten note made at the time of the key revelations was used to frame an email but the original notes were 'disposed of'.

And the subsequent email about the meeting did not tally with the recollections of others on the call, he found.

Sir Andy Cook, chief inspector for the HM Inspectorate of Constabularies, told the Home Secretary in his report that he was satisfied the force 'recognised that this was a high-risk fixture...with added complexity because of national and international events....the force clearly knew the fixture would attract wide-ranging protests.'

Its significance was further heightened by the 2 October 2025 terrorist attack on Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation.

He wrote: "However, I am concerned that in some respects, the force either didn’t fully appreciate – or its response didn’t demonstrate that it appreciated – the extent to which national and international context would lead to far-reaching consequences if the fixture and wider associated events were not policed effectively. I am not convinced that the force fully considered the consequences of its preferred tactical option. It focused on reducing the risk of short-term disorder and long-term damage to local community relations due to the presence of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. It lacked the necessary foresight to recognise the long-term, global consequences."

The inspector who conducted the rapid review of the police's role in the ban has outlined what he did to reach his damning verdict.

He said he had reviewed 'approximately 200 relevant documents in total from WMP, Birmingham City Council, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s UK Football Policing Unit and National Police Coordination Centre, and police in the Netherlands.

We have also carried out 20 interviews with significant people, including:

• the Chief Constable of WMP;
• the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner;
• several of the force’s gold, silver and bronze commanders and other senior officers, all of whom played a role in planning the fixture;
• the Chair of Birmingham City Council’s SAG;
• Lord Mann of Holbeck Moor, in his capacity as the Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism;
• the Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Israel in London;
• the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for football policing;
• the Director of the UK Football Policing Unit;
• a representative of the Jewish Representative Council for Birmingham and West Midlands; and
• police commanders in the Netherlands, who were responsible for policing the Ajax v Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture in Amsterdam in November 2024.

We have also reviewed video recordings and documentation from four police gold meetings held between 17 September and 17 October 2025, and two SAG meetings held on 7 and 16 October 2025.

We observed the Home Affairs Committee oral evidence sessions of 1 December 2025 and 6 January 2026. We have also reviewed additional material that the Committee requested from WMP on 9 December 2025.

There's a growing clamour for the Chief Constable to bring this sorry saga to an end and go of his own accord.

MPs say he can still 'do the honourable thing' or face the inevitable step of being fired.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Andy Cox report is 'devastating'. It catalogues failures that 'did not just affect the travelling fans...but also the entire community across the West Midlands and across the country. I speak today not just as home secretary but also as a Birmingham member of Parliament....the police believed they were acting in an attempt to avoid long term damage to communities...if that is the case, what a grossly misguided effort it was."

Home Secretaries will be given new powers to sack Chief Constables who fail their communities, under new plans announced today in light of the Maccabi Tel Aviv saga.

Shabana Mahmood has pledged to make police leaders accountable to parliament and the public ahead of sweeping police reforms to be announced later this month and says this includes reverting to her the power to sack failing chief constables.

Currently that responsibility lies with police and crime commissioners, though they are due to be scrapped.

The Home Secretary will have the power to sack failing Chief Constables under statutory powers to force the retirement, resignation or suspension of Chief Constables on performance grounds.

The Conservatives removed the power in 2011 when Theresa May was Home Secretary and Nick Timothy was Special Adviser in the Home Office, through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

The move comes in light of the findings of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Andy Cook, into the failings of leadership of the West Midlands force after they recommended banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa.

In the statement, the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “When a Chief Constable is responsible for a damaging failure of leadership, the public rightly expect the Home Secretary to act. And I intend to restore their ability to do so.

“This Government will soon reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to dismiss Chief Constables’.”

The most damning line from the Home Secretary's statement: "His failure to discharge his duties on a matter of such national importance rests with the Chief Constable, and it is for that reason that I must declare today that the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence."

Shabana Mahmood adds: "What is clear from this report is that on an issue of huge significance to the Jewish community in this country and to us all, we have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed the reputation and eroded public confidence in West Midlands Police and policing more broadly. Faced by a game of such importance, the Chief Constable of the force, Craig Guildford, should have ensured more professional and thorough work was done.

"The shortcomings detailed in his (the inspector's) report are, and I quote, symptomatic of a force not applying this necessary strategic oversight and not paying enough attention to important matters of detail, including at the most senior levels, the ultimate responsibility for the force."

Among the catalogue of issues found by the inspectorate:

* record keeping within the force was poor

* he was especially concerned about the handling of sensitive information that should never have been shared without redaction

* the police overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi fans, while understating the risks posed to the Israelis.

* the misleading communications also extend to the words of the chief constable himself at his appearance in front of the select committee, when he claimed that AI tools were not used to compare intelligence reports - only to later have to apologise for this untruth

Council leader John Cotton calls on Chief Constable to go 'for the sake of restoring confidence in the police'.

He should 'stand down now'.

He described the approach taken by West Midlands Police as 'confirmation bias'. This means that rather than follow the evidence the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.

"The West Midlands Police engagement with the Dutch police is one of the most disquieting elements of Sir Andy's report. The summary, provided as evidence to the Safety Advisory Group ahead of a crucial meeting on the 24th of October, had inaccurate claims, including the number of police officers deployed."

It was a 'devastating' report, she says.

As a result she has no confidence in the chief constable - the first time for such a declaration in 20 years.

An inspectorate review of the police decision, carried out by Sir Andy Cook of the HM Inspectorate of Constabularies, published today, makes damning findings. "There is no other way to describe them. The force we now discover conducted engagement with the Muslim community and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken. As Sir Andy himself says, it is no excuse to claim as the force now does, that there were high Holy days during this time that prevented this engagement."

The Home Secretary is on her feet.

She opens to say the decision was made by Birmingham City Council's safety advisory group under recommendation of West Midlands Police.

She begins by defending her own role - she confirms she was informed by Craig Guildford that he advised her at a meeting of chief constables on October 8 that a ban on travelling fans was under consideration but she could not intervene.

Craig Guildford took over as chief constable of the second largest force in the country in December 2022. In his first interviews he pledged he would 'bear down on criminals'. He was described by police and crime commissioner Simon Foster, who appointed him, as "an outstanding police leader".

He had been a police officer for more than 30 years, rising through the ranks from police constable in Cheshire before becoming a criminal investigator.

He was appointed as assistant chief constable with West Yorkshire Police in 2012, then deputy chief constable for Gwent Police two years later. He was awarded The Queen's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2021.

He took over as chief constable for the West Midlands in December 2022. The force was put in special measures a year later for not carrying out investigations effectively or managing the risk to the public of sex offenders.

Within a year, the enhanced monitoring was lifted from the organisation after it made improvements.

Critical issues include rising violent crime, with the force area reporting the highest rate of knife crimes anywhere in 2023. By October 2025 this had reduced significantly. He has also taken a lead on tackling road crime in the city and region.

In 2024 Guildford controversially took 'retirement' from policing under the 'return and rehire' rules to protect his pension pot before immediately returning. It's a privilege available to staff in some public sector organisations including the NHS but draws criticism.

West Midlands Police sources have said the chief constable has maintained he does not intend to go over the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban.

Throughout the saga he has refused to say he is 'considering his position.'

This is in part because he believes his record leading the force has been positive, with significant improvements. Among his achievements has been a fall in overall reported crime across the region and faster call handling.

He has also committed to tackling the scourge of violent crime and road safety, investing in both issues and creating specialist teams, alongside an investment in more neighbourhood police.

The most recent inspection by HM Inspectorate, dated December 2023, highlighted serious concerns. Guildford had taken over a year earlier from long serving chief Sir Dave Thompson and was praised in the findings for 'implementing improvements' that had not yet bedded in.

The inspectors' report found the force was adequate in two areas, requires improvement in three areas and inadequate in three areas.

In her report, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: “I have serious concerns about how well West Midlands Police investigates crime, protects vulnerable people and manages offenders and suspects. We have highlighted these problems in previous inspection reports, but the force’s performance has declined.

“The force had a change in leadership in the year leading up to our inspection. They have implemented a robust performance framework to help make improvements. Most significantly, they have reviewed the force’s operating model and made rapid changes to it. I recognise the scale of the challenge senior leaders face in meeting demand and achieving sustainable improvements. At the time of our inspection, the force had only just put these changes in place, and there has not yet been time for most of the changes to fully develop."

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to stand up in the House of Commons shortly to give her statement.

Currently the House is discussing the plans to run new train lines across north England and from Birmingham to Manchester - more on this development to follow separately!

Birmingham Perry Barr MP Ayoub Khan has claimed a 'witch hunt' is under way to end the career of the city's most senior police officer.

Mr Khan has reacted angrily to claims that West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford ought to go because he allegedly succumbed to pressure from local 'Islamists' to ban fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv from a match against Aston Villa.

He said too many people, particularly MPs, were using the affair to stir up division and further attack Muslim communities in the city and paint them as universally 'antisemitic', when the ban was predicated on 'public safety grounds'.

And he claimed that if the chief constable was forced out because of political interference, it would send a 'chilling message' to other police forces. Full story coming shortly