Jews did not call for fan ban, force admits
Dame Karen Bradley is chair of the select committee
IAN DAVIDSON/ALAMY
Last week West Midlands police apologised for suggesting that members of the Jewish community had supported the ban.
Assistant chief constable Mike O’Hara previously told the home affairs committee that members of Birmingham’s Jewish community had told police they did not want Maccabi fans to attend the match.
But after the session, the force said: “It was never the intention of the officer to imply that there were members of the Jewish community who had explicitly expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi fans.”
After Dame Karen Bradley, the Conservative chair of the committee, requested further clarification from the force over O’Hara’s comments, Guildford replied in a letter that “there is no documented feedback from Jewish representatives prior to the decision being communicated which expressed support for the ban”.
However, Guildford claimed many local Jews had expressed their agreement with the safety advisory group’s decision after the committee hearing.
West Midlands police chief faces calls to quit
Guildford has faced pressure to resign over the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.
Katie Lam, a shadow Home Office minister, said in the House of Commons yesterday: “It is simply extraordinary that the force made up ‘intelligence’ and made false public statements. The chief constable has serious questions to answer, and if he cannot satisfactorily answer them, he must resign.”
She said that a “remarkable” investigation by The Sunday Times revealed that police “retrospectively” created a rationale and “false evidence to justify their predetermined decision to ban fans from the world’s only Jewish state from going to a football match in Britain’s second city”.
When asked whether Guildford should stay in his role, Lord Austin of Dudley, the government’s trade envoy to Israel, told Times Radio: “When he took the decision to capitulate to the extremists and ban the Israeli fans, he showed then that he wasn’t doing his job. If he wasn’t prepared to do his job properly, then he shouldn’t be in it.”
Police chiefs to face MP questions
Craig Guildford, chief constable for the West Midlands, gave evidence to the home affairs committee in December
HOUSE OF COMMONS/PA
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from attending the team’s Europa League game against Aston Villa in Birmingham on November 6.
Birmingham’s safety advisory group, which includes council and police, cited safety concerns. Sir Keir Starmer denounced the ban, which was revealed weeks before the game, and ministers tried to overturn it but the match went ahead without away fans.
Craig Guildford, chief constable for the West Midlands, is being recalled by the Commons home affairs select committee to answer questions about the ban from 2.30pm.
His assistant chief constable, Mike O’Hara, who previously told MPs the ban was a “good decision” based on the threat of fan trouble, will also face further questioning.
The head of the football policing unit Mark Roberts, and the Labour leader of Birmingham city council, John Cotton, will also appear before MPs.