US EditionHome secretary says she does not have confidence in West Midlands police boss after Israeli fan ban
The policing watchdog found confirmation bias, AI-generated errors, and leadership failures in West Midlands Police's fan ban decision, prompting political fallout and a review.
- This morning, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declared she has no confidence in Craig Guildford, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, after receiving Sir Andy Cooke's findings and will address the House of Commons later today.
- The force's safety advice drew on AI searches that used Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, with West Midlands Police relying on AI-sourced intelligence wrongly describing a past match.
- Away fans were barred from the Villa Park Europa League fixture on November 6 after Birmingham Safety Advisory Group announced the ban three weeks prior, despite a separate report 16 days before recommending limited attendance.
- Opposition pressure has mounted, with Kemi Badenoch and others calling for Craig Guildford to quit, Guildford apologising for misleading MPs but resisting resignation, and Shabana Mahmood planning to restore dismissal powers soon.
- AI systems, including ChatGPT, insisted the fake match occurred when prompted, and Shabana Mahmood called the inspector's findings damning, marking the first chief constable confidence loss in over 20 years.
53 Articles
53 Articles
Why Keir Starmer Went to Bat for Israeli Football Hooligans
There’s nothing Britain’s political class likes more than a mob of football hooligans, so long as they’re Israeli. Now the Starmer government has moved to punish police officers for declining to accommodate Maccabi Tel Aviv’s notoriously racist fans.
UK police admit ’mistakes’ over Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban
UK police on Wednesday admitted "mistakes" over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a Europa League football match against Aston Villa in Birmingham, as calls mounted for the under-fire local chief constable to be sacked. West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford have been under mounting pressure about how they came to the decision, which sparked political outrage in Britain and Israel. Birmingham's population is 30…
Mahmood awards herself new powers to sack police chief constable over botched Maccabi fan report
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood told the House of Commons yesterday — 14 January — that she has lost confidence in West Midlands Police (WMP) chief constable Craig Guildford. The news comes after a report from the police watchdog on intelligence supplied by the WMP leading to a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at a game against Aston Villa fans back in October. The report stated that: confirmation bias, in relation to the anticipated behaviour of Mac…
U.K. probe finds 'confirmation bias' in AI-based police ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv
The decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the November UEFA Europa League soccer match with Aston Villa in Birmingham 'overstated the threat' posed by the fans, and 'understated the risk' posed to Israeli fans in the area, a probe ordered by British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood found
In October, the local police classified the Europa League meeting between the Israeli team and the English club as "high risk", based on exaggerated or false information, according to an independent report released on Wednesday.
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