Pressure is mounting for a chief constable to be sacked over banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending an Aston Villa match, as senior Tories said his position was now ‘untenable’. 

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was among the voices calling for Craig Guildford to step down or be removed after evidence emerged surrounding the decision to stop fans of the Israeli football team travelling to Villa Park in November.

Newly published documents show West Midlands Police (WMP) was warned that locals in the majority Muslim community had planned to ‘arm’ themselves if Maccabi fans showed up – evidence that Mr Guildford has been accused of ‘hiding’.

Gathered intelligence also showed ‘local hostility towards the visitors based on their nationality’.

On Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch called on the chief constable to resign. 

She wrote on X: ‘West Midlands Police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up.

‘They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. 

‘We have had enough of this in Britain. The Chief Constable’s position is untenable. The British police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.’

Pressure is mounting for Craig Guildford, the chief constable of West Midlands Police (WMP), to be sacked over banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending an Aston Villa match

Conservative leader Kemi Badenochwas among the voices calling for Craig Guildford to step down or be removed after evidence emerged surrounding the decision to stop fans of the Israelifootball team travelling to Villa Park in November

Conservative leader Kemi Badenochwas among the voices calling for Craig Guildford to step down or be removed after evidence emerged surrounding the decision to stop fans of the Israelifootball team travelling to Villa Park in November 

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, meanwhile, said: ‘It is now clear the threat of armed Islamist thugs was a key consideration in the force’s decision to ban Israeli fans from attending the match, but this crucial detail was held back.

‘The Chief Constable’s pathetic excuse that he wasn’t asked is just the latest attempt to cover up a farce of his own making.’

Branding the force’s performance before the committee ‘disgraceful’, Mr Philp said the chief constable’s position was ‘untenable’, adding: ‘If he doesn’t resign then the Home Secretary must use her powers to sack him, and even more importantly explain exactly what she knew and when.’

Life peer Lord Austin of Dudley, who is an Aston Villa fan, added to those calling for the chief constable to go, calling the situation a ‘shameful cover-up’.

He said: ‘We now find out West Midlands Police hid evidence that violent Islamist thugs in Birmingham were planning to ‘arm themselves’ to attack Jewish football fans.

‘But instead of dealing with these violent, racist extremists, they banned the Israeli fans from coming, then fitted up the evidence to support that decision, lied about the reasons, blamed the Israelis themselves and even falsely claimed the Jewish community supported it. 

‘It has been a shameful cover-up and the Chief Constable must either resign or be fired.’

Meanwhile, Tory MP Nick Timothy called on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to step into the fray and remove Guildford.

Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv (pictured) were banned from their Europa League fixture at Villa Park on November 6

Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv (pictured) were banned from their Europa League fixture at Villa Park on November 6

He said: ‘What was left of the credibility of West Midlands Police has been destroyed. Their initial reason for banning Israelis from Villa Park was the danger to away fans from armed locals. 

‘But to justify the ban they portrayed the Israelis as ‘uniquely violent’ and military-trained. They used ‘intelligence’ supposedly from Dutch police that has been utterly repudiated – by the Dutch police and other authorities.

‘When the Committee asked why the vital information about the danger to Israelis was kept secret, the Chief Constable ludicrously said it was because he had not been asked for it. 

‘The Home Secretary has the power to remove him under s40 of the Police Act 1996. She should use it.’

Lord Walney, the government’s former extremism adviser, said: ‘This fresh revelation dragged out of Craig Guildford at the Home Affairs Committee shows why the chief constable’s position is untenable.

‘Not only did the force fabricate evidence that exaggerated the scale of the threat posed by Israeli fans, who they wrongly portrayed as uniquely violent, but they also sat on genuine intelligence that local thugs were seeking to arm themselves to confront them. 

‘Every moment he clings on now will further damage his force and British policing.’

Jewish leaders also joined calls for Mr Guildford to resign, saying ‘significant harm’ had been inflicted on the relationship between the police and the community.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Villa Park before the game on November 6

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Villa Park before the game on November 6

In a joint statement, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: ‘It seems that the police reached a decision first, and then searched for evidence to justify it, apparently influenced by the threat posed by local extremists. 

‘It is also apparent that claims about the previous behaviour of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were unsubstantiated or erroneous. 

‘The police excluded (having initially included) any assessment of the significant risk to the Jewish community, and claimed to have consulted the local community in advance of the decision, which they had not. 

‘In light of these events, significant harm has been done to the confidence of the Jewish community in the Police. 

‘Action must be taken to ensure that these failures do not recur and to restore trust. Accountability matters.’

Mr Guildford had been recalled on Tuesday to give further evidence over the matter at the Home Affairs Committee. 

He denied that the local Safety Advisory Group (Sag) had been ‘politically influenced’ by its decision to recommend the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

WMP chief constable Craig Guildford told the cross-party group of MPs: ‘From everything that I’ve read, and the commanders that I spoke to, I do not believe that there was political influence on that decision.

‘Lots of local politicians and local members of the community I’m sure wanted to try and influence it, but I honestly don’t think it was influenced.’

Mr Guildford defended claims put to him by committee chairwoman Dame Karen Bradley that it felt like the force was ‘scraping’ to find a reason to justify the ban.

‘I’m really sorry if it comes across in that way. That was absolutely not the case,’ he said.

The committee heard West Midlands Police thought ‘vigilante groups’ from the local community posed a threat to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans when it decided to ban them from the game.

MPs heard the force had information from as early as September 5 last year that the Israeli visitors would be targeted with ‘violence’.

Assistant chief constable Mike O’Hara said: ‘We got a lot of information intelligence to suggest that people were going to actively seek out Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and would seek violence towards them.

‘So we had sort of like a bubbling position locally.

‘We had people purporting to be Maccabi fans online who were goading local community members and saying, ‘this is what you’re going to get’.

‘This was all forming part of the heat of the situation, so based on that, the commanders tried to make the right decision.’

WMP had previously been warned over misleading Parliament after evidence given to the Home Affairs Committee last month by Mr O’Hara suggested the police had been told by members of the Jewish community they did not want Maccabi fans to attend the match.

The force later clarified it was not his intention to imply that and subsequently apologised.