The West Midlands police chief, Craig Guildford, is under threat of dismissal following a damning report from the police inspectorate, which exposed serious intelligence failures in the force's decision to advocate for a ban on Israeli fans attending a football match in Birmingham in November 2025. The report, led by Sir Andy Cooke, concluded that the force suffered from 'confirmation bias', seeking evidence to justify a predetermined conclusion that a ban was necessary, often getting that evidence wrong.
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, lacks the power to sack Guildford; that authority rests with Simon Foster, the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands. Foster is considering his options and will hold a public session to question Guildford on 27 January. If he decides to dismiss the chief constable, he must follow a legal process that includes consulting Sir Andy Cooke.
The inspectorate's report highlighted several key errors in the force's intelligence. West Midlands police wrongly told Birmingham's safety advisory group that Dutch police required 5,000 officers to deal with trouble at a Maccabi Tel Aviv match in Amsterdam in 2024, when the actual figure was 2,000. They also incorrectly claimed that over 200 Israeli fans were linked to the Israeli Defense Forces and that 500 to 600 Maccabi fans had intentionally targeted Muslim communities in Amsterdam. In reality, clashes involved individuals rather than residential communities.
Furthermore, the force misrepresented an incident in Amsterdam, portraying it as Maccabi fans throwing Muslims into the water, when in fact an Israeli fan was thrown in. The report noted that West Midlands police had access to official Dutch reports that contradicted their version of events. Sir Andy Cooke stated that the force's portrayal of the disorder and the role of Maccabi fans was exaggerated, leaving the safety advisory group with 'little or no option' but to impose a ban.
The report also revealed that the force focused on Muslim concerns about Israeli attacks on Gaza and failed to properly consult local Jewish views. It did not anticipate that a ban would raise suspicions of caving in to antisemitism. Cooke said the force lacked foresight to recognise the long-term, global consequences of its actions.
Guildford has apologised for an error in the force's intelligence reports, which included a reference to a Maccabi match against West Ham that never took place. The error was discovered via AI and described by an officer as 'an AI hallucination'. The home affairs committee, which has held two public hearings where Guildford performed poorly, is expected to produce a critical report. Foster will consider Guildford's overall tenure since 2022, during which the force's crime clear-up rate rose from 3% to 15%.
