Nigel Farage: BBC apologises to Farage over account closure story

The BBC has apologised to Nigel Farage over its inaccurate report about the closure of his account at private bank Coutts.

On 4 July, the BBC reported Mr Farage no longer met the financial requirements for Coutts, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Ex-UKIP leader Mr Farage later obtained a Coutts' report which indicated his political views were also considered.

BBC News CEO Deborah Turness has written to Mr Farage to say sorry.

BBC Business Editor Simon Jack also tweeted an apology, saying his story was "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," Mr Jack continued.

On Monday, the BBC said on its Corrections and Clarifications website: "We acknowledge that the information we reported - that Coutts' decision on Mr Farage's account did not involve considerations about his political views - turned out not to be accurate and have apologised to Mr Farage."

When Coutts, which is owned by NatWest, decided to close Mr Farage's account, he said it did not give him a reason.

At the time, Mr Farage told Radio 4 the BBC had fallen for "spin" and he had been "cancelled" for his political views.

Mr Farage subsequently obtained a document looking at his suitability as a Coutts customer.

The 40-page document provided to Mr Farage included minutes from a meeting in November last year reviewing his account.

The document flagged concerns that he was "xenophobic and racist", and also raised concerns about the reputational risk of having Mr Farage as a client.

It mentioned Mr Farage's retweet of a Ricky Gervais joke about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic, who is opposed to Covid vaccinations.

It gave several other examples, including his comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to the Taliban, and his characterisation of the RNLI as a "taxi-service" for illegal immigrants.

It said that to have Mr Farage as a customer was not consistent with Coutts' "position as an inclusive organisation" given his "publicly stated views".

The boss of NatWest Group, Dame Alison Rose, then apologised to Mr Farage for what she called the "deeply inappropriate" comments.

She also said that she was commissioning a full review of Coutts' processes on bank account closures.

Mr Farage has called for Dame Alison to be questioned by MPs.

The Treasury has also called a meeting with bank bosses over account closures, following the row between Mr Farage and NatWest, which owns Coutts.