In yet another feather in his cap, Brexit’s Nigel Farage successfully forced the BBC to apologise for its “incomplete and inaccurate” reporting on the reasons for his debanking by Coutts.
The CEO of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and Business Editor Simon Jack both issued apologies on Monday to Nigel Farage over a report citing an unnamed Coutts bank source who allegedly claimed that the Brexiteer had lost his account after having fallen below the financial threshold of the bank.
Yet, a subject access report obtained by Mr Farage revealed that the bank had produced a 40-page dossier detailing how his political views and friendships with figures such as former President Donald Trump did not “align with our values”.
In her apology to Farage, BBC News CEO Deborah Turness said: “I have reviewed what happened since we received your letter on Saturday. It’s clear that the story we originally published, based on information provided by our source, turned out to be inaccurate.
“While our teams took the correct steps in rectifying this on-air and on our Corrections and Clarifications page, I can understand why you feel this story has contributed to you being put through a considerable and humiliating amount of publicity.
“I would therefore like to apologise to you on behalf of BBC News.”
For his part, BBC Business Editor Simon Jack said on social media: “The information on which we based our reporting on Nigel Farage and his bank accounts came from a trusted and senior source. However, the information turned out to be incomplete and inaccurate. Therefore I would like to apologise to Mr Farage.”
Farage Ups the Ante: Bank Faces £17.5 Million Fine as ‘Mr Brexit’ Files Complaint over Passing Info to BBChttps://t.co/UT6MKC80Xf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 23, 2023
Neither Jack nor Turness revealed the name of the “senior source” cited in the original article, yet it has been reported that Mr Jack had sat next to Dame Alison Rose at a charity dinner the evening before it was published. Dame Alison currently serves as the CEO of NatWest banking group, which owns the Coutts bank that dropped Mr Farage as a customer.
On his prime time GB News programme on Monday evening, Farage thanked both BBC representatives for their apologies, saying: “I know some will say it took too long but thank you, a fulsome apology from the BBC is not something that happens very often I’m delighted to get it.”
“The BBC have apologized, they are now out of it,” he said. “Which points the finger back to Coutts and the NatWest banking group.”
Last week, Mr Farage filed a formal complaint against the banking group with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), a regulator that has the power to fine financial institutions up to £17.5 million or four per cent of their international revenue, whichever is larger.
“I want to get to the absolute truth of what happened here,” Farage vowed. “How can it be right that my banking status and the amount of money I may or may not have in my personal and business accounts are being discussed with the business editor of the BBC and then disseminated to a wider world?”
“How can that be ethical, how can that be legal, how can that be moral? I want to find out the truth and I’m blooming well
going to find out the truth.”
In somewhat surprisingly swift action, the Conservative government of Rishi Sunak has been notably active in pushing back against the banks over the Farage scandal. On Monday, City Minister Andrew Griffith reportedly summoned the heads of the largest lenders in the country to discuss how to implement safeguards against people being debanked for their political views, saying that the government will “take all action necessary” to crack down on banks that continue the practice.
Nigel Farage had his bank account shut over his ties to Donald Trump and for views that Coutts bank felt did “not align with our values”. https://t.co/vf8y8gZjSn
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 19, 2023