On January 14, 2026, Britain’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood delivered a rare and stinging rebuke in the House of Commons: she had lost confidence in the chief constable of West Midlands Police, Craig Guildford. The statement came on the heels of a damning report into the force’s controversial decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa at Villa Park in November 2025—a move that has since spiraled into a national scandal, raising tough questions about policing, community relations, and accountability at the highest levels.
Mahmood’s declaration marked the first time in over two decades that a home secretary has publicly withdrawn confidence from a chief constable, according to Sky News. The trigger was a detailed investigation, led by His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Andy Cooke, which found that West Midlands Police had not only mishandled intelligence but also failed to properly engage with the Jewish community before recommending the ban.
“The ultimate responsibility for the force’s failure to discharge its 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,” Mahmood told MPs, as quoted by the Daily Mail. She called the report’s findings “damning” and “devastating,” emphasizing that the failures affected not just the traveling fans but also the Jewish community in the West Midlands and across the UK.
The controversy began in October 2025, when West Midlands Police advised the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG) to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from the upcoming match, citing safety concerns. The police’s recommendation was based on what the report later described as “exaggerated or simply untrue” accounts of hooliganism, including claims about police deployment, alleged links between fans and the Israeli Defence Forces, and supposed attacks on police officers and taxi drivers. These claims, according to Sir Andy Cooke’s findings, were either overstated or entirely unfounded.
Mahmood highlighted that the force “conducted little engagement with the Jewish community, and none with the Jewish community in Birmingham before a decision was taken.” She further noted that West Midlands Police failed to consult with police forces in Greece, Ukraine, and Denmark—countries where Maccabi Tel Aviv had recently played matches without incident. Perhaps most troubling for many observers, the force’s communications with Dutch police, which were presented as evidence to the SAG, were described as “one of the most disquieting elements” of the report due to their inaccuracy.
“Rather than follow the evidence, the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position: to ban the fans,” Mahmood said, referencing Sir Andy Cooke’s description of the force’s approach as “confirmation bias.” The report also criticized the police for overstating the threat posed by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans while understating the risks to Israeli supporters if they had traveled to Birmingham—a miscalculation that, according to Cooke, demonstrated a lack of necessary foresight and strategic oversight at the highest levels of the force.
Adding to the controversy, Chief Constable Guildford personally apologized to MPs on January 14, 2026, for providing “erroneous” evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. Guildford attributed the misleading information in part to an “AI hallucination” produced by the artificial intelligence tool Microsoft Copilot. In a letter to the committee chairwoman, Guildford clarified that a previously cited match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham United—a key piece of supposed intelligence—never actually took place, and that the error had stemmed from an AI-generated result rather than a simple Google search as initially claimed.
Sir Andy Cooke’s report, while excoriating in its assessment of the force’s conduct, found “no evidence” that antisemitism motivated the decision to ban the Israeli fans. Nonetheless, Cooke criticized West Midlands Police for failing to fully consider the long-term, global consequences of their preferred tactical option, focusing instead on reducing the risk of short-term disorder and local community tensions.
The fallout from the scandal has been swift and far-reaching. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer expressed concern over the ban, and both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have called for Guildford’s resignation. John Cotton, Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, publicly stated, “For the sake of the city and region, confidence needs to be restored in the leadership of West Midlands Police, so that lessons can be learned and implemented. I believe that the Chief Constable should stand down so that this vital work can begin at once.”
Yet, under current law, Mahmood herself cannot dismiss Guildford. Since 2011, the authority to hire or fire chief constables has rested with local police and crime commissioners (PCCs)—in this case, Simon Foster, who has yet to comment on the matter. This legal limitation has drawn fire from both sides of the political aisle. In Parliament, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp insisted that Guildford “must be fired,” accusing Mahmood of “pretending to have no power.” Mahmood retorted that it was the Conservatives who stripped the home secretary of this authority, telling her Tory counterpart to “pay attention” to the details and how the law is to be interpreted.
Amid the political wrangling, Mahmood announced plans to restore the power for home secretaries to dismiss chief constables “who fail their communities.” According to a Home Office press release, forthcoming legislation will grant home secretaries statutory powers to force the retirement, resignation, or suspension of chief constables on performance grounds. Mahmood pledged to make police leaders more accountable to Parliament and the public, with sweeping reforms expected to be unveiled later in January 2026.
Not everyone agrees with the calls for Guildford’s ouster. Ayoub Khan, a local MP who originally campaigned for the ban, described the backlash as a “witch hunt” and said Guildford was “being thrown under a bus.” The debate has exposed deeper tensions over policing, the role of artificial intelligence in public safety decision-making, and the delicate balance between protecting public order and upholding civil rights.
As the dust settles, one thing is clear: the fallout from the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban has shaken confidence in West Midlands Police and reignited debate about who should hold the ultimate power to remove those at the very top of Britain’s police forces. With new laws on the horizon and a police chief’s career hanging in the balance, the aftershocks of this episode will likely reverberate through British policing and politics for months to come.
