Reform UK ultimatum: Sack chief constable over maccabi fc ban

Lloyd House

Colmore Circus, Queensway

Birmingham, B4 6AJ

Dear Mr Foster,

We wish to make our position clear that we do not have confidence in the leadership of West Midlands Police and hence are calling for you as Police & Crime Commissioner to dismiss Chief Constable Craig Guildford without delay in order to take the first steps towards restoring trust in the force.

It is clear to us that this was not a neutral or proportionate policing decision. It was the culmination of an overtly political campaign to exclude football supporters on the basis of nationality. Labour councillors on the Safety Advisory Group-publicly on record calling for Israeli fans to be banned -were joined by Ayoub Khan MP and former mayoral candidate Akhmed Yakoob in pressing for precisely that outcome.

Rather than defend the principle of equal treatment under the law, West Midlands Police appeared to accommodate fear, pressure and discrimination. The failure of the Chief Constable to decisively rebut this charge is itself a serious dereliction of leadership.

Before Parliament, Mr Guildford produced no credible evidence to justify a decision of this magnitude.

Instead, the public was asked to accept that it rested on an informal, unminuted conversation with three Dutch police commanders- an account later contradicted by the Dutch authorities themselves.

That alone is extraordinary. It prompts an unavoidable and still unanswered question: was intelligence used to inform the decision, or was intelligence selectively sought to legitimise a decision already taken under political pressure? The lack of evidence and clarity provided is a profound failure of governance.

Its impact is not abstract. Birmingham's Jewish community has been left feeling uniquely targeted and unfairly penalised at a time of heightened fear and insecurity.

If there is no accountability, a dangerous precedent will be set: that policing in Britain can be shaped by political intimidation and mob pressure rather than evidence, due process and the equal application of the law.

That precedent must not be allowed to stand.

Removing Mr Guildford is the only practical and reasonable first step to restoring the tainted reputation of West Midlands Police.

Yours sincerely,

Reform UK Birmingham —

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