An earlier intervention, “privately and behind the scenes”, not impacting on operational independence, could have averted the controversy of Maccabi fans playing Aston Villa, Biddulph’s MP Karen Bradley has told the House of Commons.
Dame Karen, chair of the Home Affairs Committee, said this could have been done without anybody knowing that there was a working assumption to ban the away fans, and the match could have gone ahead in the normal way.
Dame Karen was presenting a Home Affairs Committee report into the banning of Maccabi fans, in which she said that the controversial move followed a single conversation between an English police officer and a Dutch colleague, and the police believing a report invented by Microsoft Copilot AI. This hallucinated a game involving Maccabi, a fictitious event that was not checked.
Dame Karen told the Commons: “The banning of away fans at football matches is highly unusual in this country.
“The imposition of such a ban on fans from another country is almost unprecedented. The fact that the ban was on fans of an Israeli club playing at a venue situated among sizeable Muslim communities added a level of political sensitivity.
“The police relied to a disproportionate extent on a single conversation between a chief inspector from West Midlands Police and the Dutch police about the behaviour of Maccabi fans at a match against Ajax in Amsterdam in November 2024.
“The Dutch police strongly disputed the West Midlands Police (WMP) version of events, which included claims that 500 to 600 Maccabi fans were involved in disorder that targeted local communities, that they had links to the Israel Defence Forces, and that they threw local fans in the river.
“We cannot be sure what was said in that conversation because, unbelievably, the meeting notes were destroyed by West Midlands Police.
“We now know, however, that some of the information relating to the conduct of the Maccabi fans was generated by artificial intelligence — Microsoft Copilot — and what we found extraordinary is that the information used to support such a significant decision — whether from AI or elsewhere — was not cross-checked with other sources.
“Not only did WMP fail to do due diligence on the information that it presented to the safety advisory group (a non-statutory multi-agency body, often led by a local authority), it failed to prepare properly to give accurate information before the committee.
“The then chief constable told us explicitly that AI was not used by West Midlands Police, and that the reference to a match against West Ham — a completely fictitious game that was cited as one of the reasons for banning the away fans — had resulted from a Google search.
“He had subsequently to apologise that that was not the case. Precisely how West Midlands Police managed to generate inaccurate information using AI to inform the intelligence picture related to this match is the subject of an ongoing inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, so I am sure we will hear more on that in due course.”
She said it was not the issues relating to competence that were the most damaging to the reputation of WMP, it was those around balance, and consistently emphasising “the unique risk” from the Maccabi fans and downplaying the risk emanating from local communities in Birmingham.
Intelligence around elements in these communities threatening to “arm themselves” against Maccabi fans was not relayed to the safety group, she said.
Imbalance
She went on: “There was also imbalance in community engagement. WMP acknowledged that it failed to engage with the Jewish community early enough, in contrast with a full programme of engagement with other communities.
“It apologised for that and for managing to mislead the committee on the extent of engagement, acknowledging the damage done to relations with the Jewish community in the West Midlands.
“I cannot stress strongly enough how vital it is that the Jewish community in Birmingham and the West Midlands is able to feel trust in its police. At the moment, it simply does not.”
She said outside of the police, there were “clearly” some who were uncomfortable with the decision, including Aston Villa, which said it was happy to host away fans, and the leader of Birmingham City Council.
She said the safety advisory group was to blame for failing to apply “sufficient challenge” to the recommendation of WMP regarding the banning of away fans, and said the police should review the presence of elected politicians on what are essentially safety-oriented committees.
She said: “Although we did not see evidence of political pressure regarding the decision to ban away fans — we simply do not know what conversations went on behind the scenes — we did note that the Muslim councillors on the safety advisory group, who had publicly stated views on whether the match should take place at all, had a disproportionate opportunity to influence the decision of the group.
“We conclude that elected politicians should not sit on safety advisory groups.”
The Home Affairs Committee also scrutinised the role of the Home Office in the decision-making process, and that of the Government.
She said: “Strictly speaking, there should not have been a role for the Government in a decision taken at local authority level on the operational advice of the police, but No. 10 recognised at an early stage the political significance of the match and asked the Home Office to be kept informed of developments.
“There was also a Department for Culture, Media and Sport interest, as that department has lead responsibility for the safety of sports grounds.”
She said the Government were informed on 6th October, a month before the match, that a ban on away fans was the likely outcome of the process.
She said: “If the Government did not find this outcome politically palatable, you might think that they would take prompt action to avert it, for example, by providing the necessary additional resources to enable the fixture to be policed safely and go ahead.
“It was only on 16th October, when the decision was announced, that the Government intervened — in the form of a post on X by the prime minister, saying that it was the wrong decision.
“Only at this point did officials begin exploring options with the police to enable away fans to attend.”
Asleep
Reacting to Dame Karen’s statement, Nigel Huddleston, shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said the Government “seemed to be asleep at the wheel”, as it knew about the possibility of the ban weeks before the decision was made and appear to have done “absolutely nothing”.
Dame Karen agreed, saying: “Having been a minister in the Home Office, I cannot believe that somebody did not spot the possibility of this problem and that alarm bells were not ringing.
“An earlier intervention — privately and behind the scenes, not impacting on operational independence — could have averted this whole problem. It could have been done without anybody knowing that there was a working assumption to ban the away fans, and the match could have gone ahead in the normal way.” Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, asked Dame Karen if antisemitism played a part in the decision.
She told him: “The suspicion was there that the decision had been taken not because of worries about violence from the Maccabi fans, but because of their religion.
“It has to be said that two weeks later, another match went ahead at Aston Villa with away fans — against the Swiss team Young Boys — and there was significant violence, but nobody suggested that those away fans should not attend.
“We could not find actual evidence of antisemitism, but the very fact that we had elected politicians who were campaigning not just for a ban on away fans, but for the whole match to be cancelled, sitting on the safety advisory group, which provided the advice to Birmingham City Council on the safety certificate, has to be a cause of great concern. I know that it has given great concern to the Jewish community across Birmingham who have been in contact with me.”
