Mahmood has ‘no confidence’ in police chief behind Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ban
Home secretary ‘no longer has confidence’ in police chief who banned football fans
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has declared she no longer has confidence in West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford.
- This decision follows a "damning" report by chief inspector Sir Andy Cooke into the force's handling of the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a match against Aston Villa.
- The report highlighted a "failure of leadership," criticising the police for a lack of engagement with the Jewish community and using "confirmation bias" to justify the ban.
- Chief Constable Guildford also gave erroneous evidence to MPs, initially denying the use of AI tools, then blaming an "AI hallucination" for incorrect intelligence, including a reference to a non-existent match.
- Mr Guildford has since apologised for the error, clarifying that Microsoft Co Pilot, not Google, was the AI tool responsible for the misleading information.