The police chief “knew which community he supported, and very clearly which one he didn’t” in Aston Villa fan ban says Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage spoke out about the state of policing. (Image: Getty)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage slammed the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police for “pandering” to the Muslim community as the row over a ban on Israeli football fans continued. The Chief Constable, Craig Guildford, has refused to resign despite Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declaring she has “no confidence” in him.
MPs have accused West Midlands Police of making a decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from an Aston Villa game in Birmingham, and then seeking evidence to justify the choice. Mr Farage told GB News: “And if you pander to one particular section, if you basically tell them they’ve got special protections, guess what? Some of them start to behave badly.”
Mr Farage said: “[There were] truly shocking scenes in Birmingham, not that it would worry Craig Guildford. He knew which community he supported, and very clearly which one he didn’t.
“And actually, the complete ignoring of the interests of the Jewish community …
“Why is he still there?”
Mr Farage said that the Home Secretary did not have the power to sack the Chief Constable: “Now you would have thought, of course, that the Home Secretary would have the power to sack one of the 43 police chiefs in England and Wales.
“Not so, because the Conservatives changed all that back in 2011, all part of devolution, and that power now rests with Police and Crime Commissioners.”
The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police is clinging to his job after losing the confidence of the Home Secretary following the move to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match against Aston Villa.
Craig Guildford has resisted calls to resign after apologising for giving incorrect evidence about the controversy to MPs, which included denying that AI had been used in a report that informed the decision.
The power to sack Mr Guildford lies with West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster, who declined to do so on Wednesday as he awaits the outcome of a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
It comes after 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 last year.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary 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 Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham.
In evidence to MPs, Mr Guildford initially suggested that the erroneous information had been identified through a Google search, but in a letter to the Home Affairs Committee (HAC) published on Wednesday, he stated that it was the result of using an AI tool.
“I would like to offer my profound apology to the committee for this error,” he said. “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 hel,d and there was no intention to mislead the committee.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Mahmood told MPs: “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.”
Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton said Mr Guildford should stand down or be sacked after the Home Secretary’s statement, while the Board of Deputies of British Jews called for him to be dismissed “without delay”.
But Mr Foster did not do so on Wednesday, saying in a statement he wanted to give “all these issues full and proper consideration” and was waiting for a report into the matter by the Home Affairs Select Committee.
