A senior Cabinet minister has said he will be “horrified” if the chief constable of West Midlands Police is still in post by the end of the day, adding his failure to resign was “a stain on his character”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was “absolutely shocked” that Craig Guildford remained in his post after a highly critical preliminary review into how West Midlands Police’s (WMP) handled the decision to ban Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv’s fans from a match against Aston Villa in November.
Mr Guildford has resisted calls to resign, including from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who said she no longer had confidence in his ability to do the job.
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.
The 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.
Ahead of the review’s publication, Mr Guildford had apologised for giving incorrect evidence about the controversy to MPs, including for information which was apparently prompted by an “AI hallucination” during a Google search.
Mr Streeting told Times Radio: “Bluntly, I am absolutely shocked that he is still in post.
“I genuinely thought that, having misled Parliament, that having misled the public, and having had one of his own local MPs, the Home Secretary, saying she had lost confidence in him, I honestly thought that anyone with integrity would at that point say, ‘I have to resign’.
“The fact he hasn’t, I really think, is a stain on his character that, if he doesn’t act quickly, he won’t be able to remove.
“I hope he does the right thing. I will be horrified if he is still in post at the end of the day.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also piled pressure on the West Midlands Police chief to stand down.
She told the House of Commons on Thursday morning: “Having watched West Midlands Police contradict me, contradict this Government and contradict their own evidence in public over recent months, and seeing all of that laid bare in a report that the Home Secretary brought to this House yesterday, I do want to say to him that I believe it is astonishing that the chief constable remains in post and I hope he will seriously reflect.”
A senior Conservative also weighed in, insisting the right thing for the chief constable to do would be to “tender his resignation” following a “complete dereliction of duty”.
Shadow Scotland secretary Andrew Bowie told the Press Association: “He’s let down the people of the West Midlands, he’s blatantly lied about the situation in the run up to the Maccabi Tel Aviv-Aston Villa game, and now it seems very much like he’s even misled Parliament.
“So the Home Secretary is right to express a lack of confidence. We think the Home Secretary still has the power to get rid of the chief constable, and she should act accordingly to do that.
“Short of that, however, he must now recognise that the decent thing to do in his perspective – in fact, the only thing that he could do right now – is to resign from his position.”
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary said several “inaccuracies” had been included in a report given to Birmingham’s safety advisory group by WMP, including reference to a non-existent fixture between between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham.
In evidence to MPs, Mr Guildford initially suggested the erroneous information had been identified in a Google search but, in a letter to the Home Affairs Committee (HAC) published on Wednesday, said 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 held and there was no intention to mislead the committee.”
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.”
Labour PCC Mr Foster did not do sack the chief constable 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.
Mr Foster, who is an elected official, has said he wants to question Mr Guildford at a meeting of his accountability and governance board held in public on January 27.
He acknowledged the “significant strength of feeling” about the issue, adding: “In consideration of these matters, it is vital that all involved act in accordance with due process and the law at all times.”
Ms Mahmood told MPs she would restore ministerial power to dismiss heads of police forces after it was removed under reforms introduced by the Tory government in 2011.
