Shabana Mahmood awards herself new powers to sack police chief

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 Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and the potential disorder their presence might cause, influenced both the content and strength of assessments WMP gave to the SAG.

When the ban was first introduced, PM Keir Starmer took the extraordinary step to condemn and attempt to reverse the ban on the Tel Aviv fans.

‘A game of such importance’ — Shabana Mahmood

In the Commons on 14 January, Mahmood said:

Faced by a game of such importance, the chief constable of the force, Craig Guildford, should have ensured more professional and thorough work was done.

As Sir Andy [the report’s writer] himself says, the ‘shortcomings’ detailed in his report are, and I quote, ‘symptomatic of a force not applying the necessary strategic oversight and not paying enough attention to important matters of detail, including at the most senior levels’.

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.

This marks the first time in over 20 years that a home secretary has declared no confidence in a current police leader.

Health secretary Wes Streeting — who just happens to be embroiled in a pro-Israel bias scandal — also joined in the pile-on. In an interview with Times Radio on 15 January, Streeting said:

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 that 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.”

‘Due process and the law’

Thus far, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) for West Midlands Police, Simon Foster, hasn’t fired chief constable Guildford. Following Mahmood’s Commons statement, Foster said that the inspector’s report on the Maccabi ban required “careful and detailed consideration”.

The PCC went on to state that he would question Guildford himself on 27 January as part of the Accountability and Governance Board. He also added that:

It is vital that all involved act in accordance with due process and the law at all times.

For its part, the inspector’s report itself stated that:

To be clear, I have found no evidence to support a view that antisemitism played any part in WMP stating that its preferred tactical option was to reduce to zero the ticket allocation to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

In this letter, I conclude that there was an imbalance in the weight of evidence that WMP presented to the SAG in respect of the previous behaviour of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans.

However, in amongst the numerous inaccuracies in the West Midlands Police’s dodgy documentation, the report did mention that:

There is evidence that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans targeted Muslims and pro-Palestinians, but they targeted individuals rather than residential communities.

Apparently Mahmood skimmed over the Maccabi fans’ confirmed racist violence when she was reading the report she’s brandishing so gleefully. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? The report holds that WMP’s intelligence overstated the fans’ violence — but they were and are still extremely violent, racist hooligans.

Shabana Mahmood awards herself new powers

Nevertheless, incensed that she has no power to sack chief constable Guildford, the home secretary now plans to award herself the power to do just that.

The government released an announcement of its plan to change the law on 14 January. Currently, only police and crime commissioners — elected regional officials — have the power to sack chief constables.

As the announcement explained:

The new laws will hand Home Secretaries’ statutory powers to force the retirement, resignation or suspension of chief constables on performance grounds.

The previous administration removed the power in 2011 through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

The document specifically cited “significant failings amongst the leadership” of the WMP in the lead-up to the Maccabi ban. In the statement, Mahmood said:

When a chief constable is responsible for a damaging failure of leadership, the public rightly expect the Home Secretary to act. And I intend to restore their ability to do so.

This government will soon reintroduce the Home Secretary’s power to dismiss chief constables.

Because nothing says ‘I definitely won’t abuse this power’ like talking about yourself in the third person.

Why now, Mahmood?

We at the Canary have made no secret of the fact that we aren’t exactly fans of cops. Likewise, we certainly won’t shed a tear at an incompetent chief constable getting the boot.

However, Mahmood’s rush to award herself new powers now really does show exactly where her priorities lie — and her party’s along with her. Because, you know, there hasn’t exactly been a dearth of police scandals lately.

Where was Labour’s outcry when the Met police recruited serial sex offenders to boost its numbers?

Who heard Mahmood call for heads to roll when an internal review stated that the culture of the Met police makes racism “inevitable”?

Where was Starmer’s rushed intervention when a BBC investigation revealed police homophobia in the (lack of) investigation into gang blackmailing victims through Grindr?

Those stories, by the way, are all from the past three months. However, there are far, far more instances of police incompetence and bigotry than we could possibly name here. But none of those examples earned months of attention and outrage from the PLP, or a rush to introduce new laws.

What did earn that attention? A football game, and a bungled report on racist Israeli hooligans. That is where the priorities lie for our home secretary and her cronies — not decades of police racism, not serial rapists in uniform; football fans is where they decide to take a stand.

Featured image via the Canary