West Midlands Police must face inquiry into Maccabi ban, say frontline politicians

There is growing concern that police gave in to pressure from anti-Israel politicians in what critics fear is an example of extremism playing out on the streets of Britain.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP told the JC: "There are still serious questions over this hugely controversial decision, and the answers so far haven't been at all satisfactory. A proper inquiry is needed, and must get to the bottom of why so many mistakes seem to have been made."

Former attorney general Sir Michael Ellis KC told the JC that WMP’s actions over the Maccabi fan ban were “a catastrophe for their own reputation and the age-old concept of fairness in British policing”, which only reinforced what he called “long-standing and justifiable concerns about nationwide two tier policing which have arisen because of the perception of different styles of police enforcement for different groups.”

Ellis added: “The time has now come for a judge-led independent inquiry into UK policing, which should include West Midlands Police over the Maccabi match. It will be crucial to protect the integrity and continuity of what has been the world’s best policing model but which is now under real threat.”

The Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) labelled the process by which the force backed a ban on the Maccabi fans as “seriously flawed”.

A JLC spokesperson said: “The police have now apologised for the false claim of support from the local Jewish community, and have admitted that the evidence included a fictional football match. Full transparency is now essential, and should be provided by a judge-led inquiry to give the Jewish community and British public answers on how this came to pass."

The call an independent inquiry was also backed by the government’s former adviser on political violence and disruption, Lord Walney, who told the JC that “this fiasco should call time on the dismal practice of police forces kowtowing to extremists in the name of community relations”.

Walney said: “Taking advice from Islamists who set themselves up as credible community figures does not ultimately bring you a quiet life, it leads directly to this grotesque situation where the chief constable may lose his job over false evidence and antisemites are celebrating because they think they can call the shots on Birmingham’s streets. “

He added that as well as looking into West Midlands Police, “Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should now make clear to all police forces that the era of appeasement where police officers turn a blind eye to extremism must end.”

Since their testimony before Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee earlier this month, WMP have been forced to row back on the suggestion, made by Assistant Chief Constable O’Hara, that members of the Jewish community backed the ban on fans of the Israeli team.

During the session, WMP chief constable Craig Guildford also admitted that their intelligence report used to justify the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv, contained reference to a football fixture that never happened between Maccabi and West Ham United.

He also revealed that claims that 5,000 police officers were required to police Maccabi’s fixture with Dutch side Ajax in Amsterdam last year – which were disputed by official Dutch reports and the Mayor of Amsterdam – were based on an assumption by WMP.

On Monday, Conservative MP Nick Timothy – who has been vocal in demanding greater transparency from WMP – was granted an Urgent Question in Parliament, his second on this topic in two weeks.

The Birmingham-born Villa-supporting parliamentarian blasted the force’s testimony to the committee, where he said that “the police repeated claims—denied by the Dutch—that the fans were ‘militaristic’, threw people in the river and targeted Muslim civilians.

“They even said that the Dutch police had lied under political pressure from their own mayor. We are asked to believe that the Dutch police lied to their own people, the media, their justice and security inspectorate, their mayor, their government and even their King, but told the truth once in a Zoom call with West Midlands police that was never even minuted.”

Asked by Timothy whether she still had confidence in Guildford, policing minister Sarah Jones declined to do so, saying instead: “I will repeat that I have seen some very good work in the West Midlands across a range of issues, but we need to get to the bottom of this particular issue.”

Jones also confirmed that His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services would “by the end of the year” provide an update on the intelligence gathered by WMP in advance of a wider review, to be presented next year, about “how forces in England and Wales provide risk assessment advice to local safety advisory groups and other bodies responsible for licensing high-profile public events”.

The minister also re-iterated the government’s opposition to the decision to ban the Maccabi fans, saying: “The prime minister was very clear about that from the outset … That is our view, as it has been consistently since.”