Officer 'no longer has my confidence,' minister says

Anger in UK as police chief blames AI for false evidence used to ban Israeli soccer fans

West Midlands top officer admits to lawmakers that content citing nonexistent Maccabi Tel Aviv game was generated by Microsoft Copilot; findings on matter set to be presented

LONDON, United Kingdom — An under-fire UK police chief on Wednesday blamed the use of AI for erroneous evidence given to MPs over the decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans from a match against Aston Villa.

Following the admission, British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she no longer had confidence in the top police officer.

The police classified the match in Birmingham in November as “high risk,” citing previous Maccabi games, including a Europa League encounter in Amsterdam, which saw clashes between locals and Israeli fans.

The decision to ban Maccabi fans from the Villa Park UEFA Europa League game was slammed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with the government ordering an independent report which was due to be published later on Wednesday.

Scrutiny has increased on West Midlands police after multiple pieces of evidence used to justify the ban decision proved flawed, with the force rejecting allegations that the move was motivated by politics rather than fan safety.

In an intelligence report for the game, police cited a match between West Ham and Maccabi Tel Aviv that never took place.

When questioned about this by lawmakers earlier this month, chief constable Craig Guildford insisted that the error was the result of a Google search and that the force had not used artificial intelligence in its research.

However, in a letter to MPs on Wednesday, Guildford admitted that the erroneous information was due to the use of Microsoft Copilot, an AI chatbot.

“I would like to offer my profound apology to the committee for this error,” Guildford said, adding that there was “no intention to mislead the committee.”

Guilford also sent the letter by email on Monday to the parliamentary tribunal chair Dame Karen Bradley.

The ban, imposed on security grounds, was condemned by both the British and Israeli governments, while Jewish community leaders accused the force of misrepresenting intelligence and undermining public confidence.

“We have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed the reputation and eroded public confidence in West Midlands Police and policing more broadly,” Mahmood told parliament on Wednesday.

“I must declare today that the chief constable of West Midlands Police no longer has my confidence,” Mahmood said.

The tribunal has increased scrutiny of the police department’s decision-making, following widespread criticism. At a meeting last week, Bradley accused the local police force of “scraping” to find a reason to justify the ban.

That came after UK media reported in December that Dutch police also disputed evidence cited by the West Midlands force to justify the ban.

UK police claimed they were told that Maccabi fans were behind several violent incidents during the 2024 Amsterdam clashes — but that intelligence was partly contradicted by Dutch politicians and police.

While police had claimed that hundreds of Maccabi fans had targeted Muslim communities on the night preceding a 2024 game against Ajax in Amsterdam, Amsterdam police have since disputed that characterization of the confrontation, saying Maccabi supporters were targeted. Following that game, a violent riot ensued during which local gangs — made up largely of local Muslims and Arabs — attacked Israeli fans, in what Dutch leadership described as an antisemitic act.

In December, after UK police admitted to lawmakers they used fictitious evidence to justify the ban, the force also apologized to the local Jewish community after wrongly telling the parliamentary committee that the community had supported the ban.

The decision to ban the Maccabi fans from the game in Birmingham was also sharply criticized by Israeli politicians, who charged that it was antisemitic.

UK Jewish groups have called for Guildford’s ouster, and Israel’s Foreign Ministry has urged “accountability” over the affair.

Mahmood was set to present the findings of the independent inquiry later on Wednesday, which could heap further pressure on Guildford after opposition leader Kemi Badenoch called for his resignation over the debacle.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the watchdog report was set to say that the police made a series of errors in how it gathered and handled intelligence while making the decision.

“The home secretary has this morning received the chief inspectorate’s findings into the recommendation by West Midlands police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a match against Aston Villa,” the Home Office said in a statement.

“She will carefully consider the letter and will make a statement in the House of Commons in response later today,” it said.

The match went ahead amid heavy security, but without Maccabi fans after the Israeli team turned down their away ticket allocation.