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Hello, I'm Susan Hume and this is the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Tuesday, the 6th of January, the West Midlands Police Chief was recalled by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee

over the banning of Israeli fans from attending a football match in Birmingham.

Was the decision to bar fans from the Israeli football team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, from attending a match against Aston Villa last

year taken purely on safety grounds? Or was it something else? Was there political interference

in this decision to ban the Maccabi fans?

Peter Prinsley, a Labour MP, who wondered if some people on the local authority safety advisory

group had simply not wanted Israeli fans to come to Birmingham.

Was information then created by the police to support a decision that the safety advisory group made

as a result of political pressure that was coming from citizens of Birmingham

and from a particular Birmingham MP.

And I think that's the thing that we're all wondering.

Craig Guildford is the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

I think that is a really important question.

It's a really important democratic question.

And the answer?

My honest personal opinion is that the decision wasn't influenced by politics.

Lots of local politicians and local members of the community.

I'm sure wanted to try and influence it,

but I honestly don't think it was influenced.

But Craig Guildford is facing calls for his resignation, following claims that the police retrofitted

...