No 10 no longer has confidence in police chief

Downing Street has said it no longer has confidence in West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, echoing comments made in the Commons on Wednesday by the home secretary.

Other senior members of the cabinet have called for Guildford to resign or be sacked, heaping pressure on the senior officer after Israeli football fans were banned from a match against Aston Villa.

It comes after Guildford apologised for providing incorrect evidence to MPs which twice included the denial that AI was used in a report that led to the ban.

In an apology the force said it had not deliberately distorted evidence that was used by Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group for the 6 November game.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated she had lost confidence in the chief constable, following an update on a “damning” review from the chief inspector of constabulary and what she called a “failure of leadership”.

A No 10 spokesman said: “We’ve set out our position, we no longer have confidence in the chief constable. The home secretary was very clear.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting also said he thought it “utterly extraordinary” the chief constable had not yet resigned.

The senior officer remained in post, but faces a meeting on 27 January to be questioned by Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster, who has the authority to remove him.

When asked if Foster should sack the chief constable, Streeting said: “He’s got a process to follow and he’s got to do the right thing in the right way.”

But he added: “I find two things absolutely extraordinary about this situation.

“First and foremost that a chief constable misled Parliament and misled the public.

“And secondly, that having lost the confidence of the home secretary, in the terms she set out in Parliament yesterday, that he did not think to act with the integrity that that moment required – to submit his resignation, to offer at least his resignation.

“I find that utterly extraordinary.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said it was “astonishing” that Guildford was still in post as the chief constable of West Midlands Police.

Nandy told the House of Commons that she hoped he would “seriously reflect” on the matter.

She added that the events had a “chilling effect” on the Jewish community and “on everybody who needs to have trust in our police services across this country”.

Conservative MP Nick Timothy, who has been vocal in his criticism of West Midlands Police, has been named shadow justice secretary by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

Timothy, an Aston Villa fan, had also called for chief constable to lose his job over the force’s safety advice concerning the Maccabi match.

In a post on X, Badenoch said Timothy had “led the way in revealing the failure of West Midlands Police Chief over the Maccabi football ban”, describing him as a “true Conservative” and a “formidable campaigner”.

It follows the sacking of former shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick over claims he was plotting to defect from the Conservative Party.

A preliminary review by the policing watchdog into the force’s intelligence gathering found “confirmation bias” influenced the decision to bar supporters of the Israeli football team from attending Villa Park in November.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke said several “inaccuracies” had been included in a report given to Birmingham’s safety advisory group by West Midlands Police, including reference to a non-existent fixture between between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham.

In evidence to MPs, Guildford initially suggested the erroneous information had been identified in a Google search or through social media, but in a letter to the Home Affairs Committee (HAC) published on Wednesday said it was the result of using Microsoft Copilot, an AI tool.

Heather Murray, founder of the training company AI For Non-Techies, said it was “astonishing” officers had been allowed to use both Google and Microsoft Copilot in order to gather intelligence.

“None of these sources are credible,” she said.

“Surely they should be getting their intelligence from really good credible, well-researched sources.”

Independent MP Ayoub Khan, whose Birmingham Perry Barr constituency covers Aston Villa’s stadium Villa Park, repeated his call that the chief constable should stay in his job.

At the time of the match, Khan supported plans to either cancel or relocate the fixture.

“Andy Cooke’s report makes clear that there was no political interference, whilst that has been peddled, there’s been no evidence of antisemitism, no lack of impartiality,” the MP said.

In his letter to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Karen Bradley, Guildford said: “I would like to offer my profound apology to the committee for this error.”

“I had understood and been advised that the match had been identified by way of a Google search in preparation for attending HAC.

“My belief that this was the case was honestly held and there was no intention to mislead the committee.”

The force has also apologised after the details of Sir Andy’s findings came to light and said it would “work tirelessly to rebuild confidence”.