A Labour councillor who was among the orchestrators of a ban on an Israeli team’s fans may be poised to take control of Birmingham as council leader, party sources have warned the JC.
One senior party figure in Birmingham said it would be a “disgrace” if Waseem Zaffar took over the leadership after Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were stopped from attending a game at Villa Park last November
Sir Keir Starmer is now being urged to take action to stop the councillor strengthening his position, and perhaps even being in charge when Birmingham is a host city for the Euro 2028 football championships.
A former MP told the JC that Zaffar has been given a huge degree of influence within the party and has installed allies as candidates in May’s election campaign.
The councillor had been praised by current deputy leader Lucy Powell for his role in helping her getting elected.
In 2022, he was two votes short of assuming leadership of Britain’s second largest city.
A senior Birmingham Labour source told the JC: "Whether Labour win or lose at the next council election, Waseem Zaffar will likely have a key role - potentially even as Leader, unless some action is taken now.
The source continued: “How could it possibly be right that the Labour figure who pushed for Maccabi fans to be banned and brought international embarrassment to the city of Birmingham possibly end up leading it?”
Urging Sir Keir to act, the source added: “Unless the Labour Party leadership - who rightly condemned the SAG's decision - get a grip on what is happening in Birmingham, Zaffar could be the face of Britain's second city when we host Euro 2028 games. That would be a disgrace."
Last year, the JC revealed that Zaffar was one of two councillors present at a meeting in October of the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) which decided to support a ban on Maccabi fans coming to Birmingham for their European football clash with Aston Villa.
In September, he wrote in the Birmingham Mail: “We simply cannot sit and watch a football team from a state whose government is perpetrating what we and many others view as a humanitarian crisis, with the killing of thousands of innocent children and civilians in Palestine… I believe that the international community, including sports governing bodies like Uefa, should have suspended clubs like this as a sanction.”
Minutes of a SAG discussion on October 7 show that Zaffar and Lib Dem councillor Mumtaz Hussain had expressed views that the “community want it stopped”.
After the SAG made the decision to support a ban on October 16, Zaffar said on Facebook: “The Aston Villa Safety Advisory Committee, of which I am a member, has decided that no away fans will be permitted to attend … Do you agree with this decision that we took?”
The ban was criticised by the government and Jewish leaders. After scrutiny of West Midlands Police (WMP) amid the fallout, focus has now shifted to politicians who backed the ban.
On Wednesday 14 January, as home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that she had lost confidence in Craig Guildford as WMP chief constable following a “damning” report – he retired from his role on Friday – one Labour MP suggested Zaffar take his share of the blame for the ban.
Birmingham MP Tahir Ali told MPs: “The SAG had a huge part to play, and members of it were biased and had an agenda. Some of them, I am ashamed to say, belonged to my party.” Zaffar is the only Labour member of the Aston Villa SAG.
Ali told Mahmood that: “Tough action needs to be taken against the individuals who set out to influence the decision on a personal basis, rather than as an independent member of that safety advisory group.”
She responded that Sir Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, was conducting a wider report into SAGs and said: “It is incumbent on us to ensure that the arrangements we have in place are capable of delivering a dispassionate, fact-based finding as to what risk an event poses and that other political agendas are not brought into play when what we are talking about is the proper functioning of the cultural life of our country.”
The JC has previously reported that Zaffar had to be reprimanded by the Labour Party for controversial statements about Israel.
In 2016 he was “reminded of his responsibilities as a Labour councillor” by the party after claiming that government support for Israel fuels support for extremist groups, such as Isis.
Zaffar was enthusiastically praised by current Labour Party deputy leader Lucy Powell for his backing of her during last year’s election campaign where she emerged victorious.
Zaffar was just two votes shy of assuming the leadership of Birmingham City Council in 2022, where he was defeated by Ian Ward who got 33 votes to Zaffar’s 31.
Khalid Mahmood, who served as Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr for over 20 years before narrowly losing his seat to pro-Gaza independent Ayoub Khan in 2024, told the JC: “Ahead of the 2026 council election, Zaffar has been given complete control of council selections. He’s calling the shots and some people have been deselected on the basis of whether they like him or not. This guy wields unprecedented amounts of power within the Labour Party and he’s been allowed to get away with it”.
Mahmood, who was the first Muslim MP to be elected in England, continued: “I think he’s aiming to be the next Labour leader of the council. I don’t think, under the current circumstances, that Labour will be in control after the next election, but he’ll still try to be leader of the Labour group.”
The former Birmingham city councillor added: “His ultimate desire is to be in charge of Labour in Birmingham. And he’s been supported by a number of important people, unfortunately. He’s allowed to get away with everything because he has the backing of key people in the Labour Party’s regional office”.
A West Midlands Labour spokesperson told the JC: “All candidates selected to stand for Labour in Birmingham in May 2026 have gone through a rigorous selection process, led by members of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC),” adding the candidates are “a diverse and talented group”.
The JC understands that the NEC has previously had to intervene in Birmingham and introduce a Campaign Improvement Board to address cultural and behavioural issues within the Labour Group that were raised, which is why the NEC led the selection process for the 2026 local elections.
Cllr Waseem Zaffar told the JC: "I attended two SAG meetings as one of 85 members invited. At the first meeting on October 7, I made clear that regardless of any personal views about the match, our focus had to be on safety for fans, staff and the local community.
"The Safety Advisory Group is an advisory committee and the final decision rests with the Chair. The SAG decided to follow the advice of West Midlands Police.”
The JC understands that he rejects claims that he is involved in deselecting his political opponents within the Labour Party in Birmingham.
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