Craig Guildford, who heads the West Midlands force, has been warned by Jewish groups and Kemi Badenoch that his position is “untenable” in the wake of an extraordinary Commons committee hearing. 

It is understood Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is due to get an initial assessment of the intelligence used to justify the restrictions from the police watchdog next week.

Mr Guildford was grilled yesterday over why it was thought necessary to bar Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from coming to the fixture against Aston Villa in November.

The restriction was placed on the game at Villa Park by the local Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which cited safety concerns based on advice from the police force.

The decision by the SAG – which is made up of representatives from the council, police and other authorities – sparked political outrage, including from Keir Starmer.

Since then, doubts have been growing over the intelligence used by police, including disputes over the accuracy of information.

Newly published documents show police were warned that locals in the majority Muslim community had planned to “arm” themselves if Maccabi fans showed up – evidence that Mr Guildford has been accused of “hiding”.

Gathered intelligence also showed “local hostility towards the visitors based on their nationality”.

Home Affairs Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley told Mr Guildford that it seemed the police had been “scraping” to find a reason for the ban.

“It feels to us, from everything we’ve seen, that there was a need that you felt, that you had to justify banning these fans, and that scraping was done to find a reason,” she said.

Mr Guildford – who was at the committee for the second time – replied: “I’m really sorry if it comes across in that way. That was absolutely not the case.

“The information, the intelligence that we received, that we documented, and we’ve shared absolutely all of that with HMICFRS (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services) very, very recently was all gone through.”

He added a mistake that was made with regards to intelligence about West Ham United that was from “one individual doing one Google search because he couldn’t find the reference, because it wasn’t there within the system”.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike O’Hara added open source research is “not unusual” in police intelligence-gathering. …

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was among the voices calling for Craig Guildford to step down or be removed after evidence emerged surrounding the decision to stop fans of the Israeli football team travelling to Villa Park in November.

Ms Badenoch wrote on X: “West Midlands Police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up.

“They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. 

“We have had enough of this in Britain. The Chief Constable’s position is untenable. The British police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.”