‘Craig Guildford quitting West Midlands Police not enough – second man must go’

Why is Simon Foster still in his £101,900-a-year taxpayer-funded job? The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for the West Midlands was the only man with the power to sack the disgraced West Midlands Police chief, Craig Guildford. Since the job is essentially acting as the public’s voice for policing and holding the local police force accountable. Instead, he pussyfooted about due process and did nothing.

He allowed Guildford to step down in his own time — rather than face the ignominy of being given the boot for his role in the deplorable banning of Israeli football fans at a Villa Park fixture based on false evidence. Thanks to Foster, the ex-chief can now slip away to a comfortable retirement — £220,000 a year, full pension, probably a round of golf — while public confidence in policing has been corroded to the point of collapse.

Astonishingly, Foster even said of the shamed copper that he had “acted with honour and in the best interests of West Midlands Police.”

Honour? Best interests? Is this really the way to describe a chief constable who oversaw greatly exaggerated intelligence to justify banning fans of Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv — i.e. Jewish people — from Villa Park last November? Or to describe a man who clearly gave in to pressure from hardline extremists? And whose actions led the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to declare she had lost confidence in him?

How could Foster think this was a man of honour when a preliminary review by the policing watchdog into West Midlands Police’s intelligence gathering found “confirmation bias” influenced the decision to bar supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv from playing in Birmingham ?

Did he not read the damning review by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke which stated several “inaccuracies” had been included in a report given to Birmingham’s safety advisory group by West Midlands Police. 

Was Foster also not aware that even before this explosive dossier was published Guildford was compelled to apologise to MPs when it was revealed West Midlands Police relied on an AI “hallucination” to justify the ban.

Yet despite this toxic narrative or the fact Guildford’s force, as Kemi Badenoch put it, “capitulated to Islamists,” Foster demurred from wielding the axe.

It’s worth pointing out that Simon Foster is the highest-paid PCC in England and Wales. It’s a lot of public money to spend on a man who is utterly devoid of the balls of steel expected from someone in his position.

When confidence in police leadership collapses, the PCC is supposed to act decisively in the public interest. Foster did not — and that failure should cost him his job.

Some might argue that it hardly matters now that Guildford has gone. But it matters a great deal. Simon Foster dribbled about “due process” rather than swift action even though PCCs are not compelled to wait for court decisions.

By failing to jettison Craig Guildford, he therefore allowed reputational damage to mount, eroding organisational integrity, and undermining the credibility of not only the police but the PCC role itself.

For if the PCC refuses to wield serious powers when needed, authority dissipates and the job is nothing more than a bauble of bureaucracy. Looks good, costs a few quid but has no relevant role

There is also a darker consequence. Foster’s refusal to sack Guildford — and thereby avoid censure for the outrageous treatment of Israeli football fans — feeds the dynamics of antisemitism.

It signals that senior figures in policing can operate with impunity (until they choose to step down) and that the concerns of Jewish communities can be ignored. In other words: Jewish lives and concerns don’t count. At a time of spiralling antisemitism, the bodies entrusted to protect the Jewish community have instead increased its vulnerability.

Foster was not elected to act as a risk-averse HR manager on a factory shop floor. He was given the job of PCC to enforce accountability and safeguard public trust. In the most testing situation of his career, he failed. That makes him unfit for office. He gave Craig Guildford the luxury of choosing his own exit. Foster should not be allowed to do the same.