Speeches by White.

“From both sides, including Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and also the threats to harm Israeli fans.”

“Thank you for coming. Were you in the audience for the previous questioning?”

“You will be aware that we are visiting Manchester City in a few weeks’ time, and I understand that you are a season ticket holder.”

“Great. My first question is on the quality of the minute taking and the fact that we were not able to gain a full picture of exactly what happened in each of the meetings. Can you answer that, please?”

“Manchester City is playing Galatasaray. There were two murders in Leeds. It is a team that has not been allowed to come to the UK on countless times since that occasion. What security assessments would you give to that team coming to the UK?”

“The match that went ahead a few weeks later was scheduled at an earlier time in order to manage the bussing in and bussing out. That was not considered as part of your peer review as an alternative.”

“Mr Roberts, you confirm that the meeting with the Dutch police was a tipping point for West Midlands police’s approach to the fixture. Was a single verbal intelligence briefing sufficient to support this fundamental change in approach? We have already covered this, but should there have been a more in-depth investigati…”

“What was your recommendation at the first SAG committee?”

“I know, Councillor Cotton, that you are concerned about the reputational damage that it has done to your city. Also, I am sure you are concerned about the risk that is now faced by people in the Jewish community. Birmingham University has the largest JSoc in the country. What threat does this pose to them now that this…”

“Should the SAG take account of any reputational risk to the UK, not just Birmingham, from any decision of banning fans from another nation, in particular in an environment where there is such an international tension?”

“We have already covered the fact that there was no communication with Israeli police. Should more action have been taken in order to try to make that happen effectively, perhaps through Europol?”

“Mr Wilkinson, you attended the SAG meetings, but there are no minutes of what you said at them. Can you report to this meeting what you advised the SAG committee meetings?”

“I want to come in on the accuracy of your reporting. In the SAG minutes of 16 October there was a discussion about the risk in reference to the different football fans. When talking about the Maccabi fan base, incidents in Italy, Norway and Holland were referenced, but none of these incidents involved Maccabi fans. For…”

“Yes, I asked a question about why you were using a different instance of football violence where Israelis were involved as a way to highlight the threat that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans posed to the community.”

“It is not covered in the peer review, which analyses and highlights presumed behaviour on behalf of Maccabi Tel Aviv. It never talks about the threat to the Jewish community or to Israeli players or Israeli fans if they came to Birmingham. It is never analysed.”

“You are taking account of the threat perspective. You have circulated in the public domain a redacted account of what you thought the threat perspective is. I want to question why you redacted that when it says that the threat to the local Jewish community is medium, Muslim community low, Christian community low, black…”

“I am a member of Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine, but I have also been for 40 years the spouse of Lord Mann, who is the Government’s independent unpaid adviser on antisemitism.”

“Can I correct the record? That was issued by the mayor, but it is written on behalf of the chief constable and the chief prosecutor. It was not written by the mayor. She issued it on their behalf.”

“Would you agree with me that these are a really poor set of minutes? First, there is no data regarding the information coming from the police. Secondly, the only opinions that are recorded are those of councillors who are opposed to fans coming to Aston Villa and repeating concerns that the “community want it stopped”.…”

“There is a complete absence of the intelligence provided by the police, so that we, as House Members, have been unable to gain a true picture of exactly what was discussed. These minutes are now out in the public arena, so the whole of the country will be studying them. What is being recorded here, we understand now, i…”