The Home Secretary has declared that she has lost confidence in the West Midlands chief constable following a report that found intelligence used to ban fans of an Israeli football team from a match was "exaggerated or simply untrue". Shabana Mahmood said the force's "failure of leadership" had harmed the reputation of West Midlands Police and eroded public confidence in policing more broadly.
The inquiry, ordered by Mahmood and conducted by Sir Andy Cooke, found the force made a series of errors in gathering and handling intelligence. It also failed to engage sufficiently with the Jewish community before the ban decision. The report attributed the problems to confirmation bias rather than antisemitism, saying the force stopped being open-minded and interpreted new information to fit existing beliefs.
The ban concerned a Maccabi Tel Aviv match against Aston Villa in November 2025. West Midlands Police said they acted after speaking to Dutch police about violence in Amsterdam, but Dutch police disputed key claims, including that Maccabi fans had thrown people into a river. In fact, it was a Maccabi fan who ended up in the water. Dutch police also contradicted claims about links to the Israeli Defence Forces, attacks on taxi drivers, and the mass tearing down of Palestinian flags.
Mahmood said the chief constable, Craig Guildford, had claimed at a select committee that AI tools were not used to prepare intelligence reports, a claim refuted by one of his own officers, who blamed incorrect evidence on an "AI hallucination". She said the force overstated the threat posed by Maccabi fans while understating the risk to Israeli fans if they travelled to the area.
The Home Secretary said she lacked the power to dismiss a chief constable because of law changes under the Conservatives, and she would seek to restore that power through new legislation. She noted that it was the first time in two decades a home secretary had declared no confidence in a police leader.
