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By Tom Espiner
Business reporter, BBC News
Banking boss Dame Alison Rose has apologised to Nigel Farage for "deeply inappropriate" comments made about him in a document on his suitability as a Coutts customer.
The boss of NatWest Group said in a letter to Mr Farage that the comments did not reflect the bank's view.
UKIP's ex-leader has said his Coutts account was closed because the bank did not agree with his political views.
Mr Farage said Dame Alison should now be questioned by MPs about the issue.
Dame Alison's apology came after the government announced new plans to force banks to explain account closures.
She said that as well as apologising to Mr Farage, she was "commissioning a full review of the Coutts' processes" on bank account closures. Coutts, a private bank, is owned by the NatWest Group.
In the letter to Mr Farage she said she believed "very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views".
The 40-page document, published by the Daily Mail, included minutes from a meeting in November last year reviewing his suitability as a client.
It stated continuing to have Mr Farage as a customer was not consistent with Coutts's "position as an inclusive organisation" given his "publicly stated views".
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 examples, including his comparing Black Lives Matter protesters to the Taliban, and his characterisation of the RNLI as a "taxi-service" for illegal immigrants, to flag concerns that he was "xenophobic and racist".
On Thursday Dame Alison also reiterated her offer to Mr Farage of alternative banking arrangements with NatWest and said she wanted to ensure they provide "a better, more transparent experience for all our customers in the future."
Following her apology, Mr Farage was asked if he thought that she should now resign.
"I think what needs to happen is the Treasury select committee needs to reconvene, come out of recess, and let's give her the opportunity to tell us the truth," he told reporters.
Mr Farage also said the Telegraph had reported how the BBC's business editor Simon Jack had sat next to Dame Alison at a dinner on 3 July and the next day he had then been called by Mr Jack and told "the reason my bank account had been closed was that I had insufficient funds in the account."
He said: "I want to know, did Alison Rose breach my client confidentiality? Did she break GDPR rules?"
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Plans to boost transparency
The apology to Mr Farage came after the Treasury announced plans to subject UK banks to stricter rules over closing customer accounts.
Banks will have to explain why they are closing accounts and they will have to give a notice period of 90 days before closing an account, to allow people more time to appeal against the decision.
The new rules are likely to be brought in after the summer, the BBC understands.
The changes will not take away a bank's right to close accounts of people deemed to be a reputational or political risk.
Instead, it will boost transparency for customers, the Treasury said.
Treasury minister Andrew Griffith said: "Banks occupy a privileged place in society and it is right that we fairly balance the rights of banks to act in their commercial interest with the right for everyone to express themselves freely."
Dame Alison said she welcomed the plans and would implement the recommendations.
The Treasury began looking at the issue in January after PayPal temporarily suspended several accounts last year.
On Wednesday Rishi Sunak warned it "wouldn't be right if financial services were being denied to anyone exercising their right to lawful free speech".
Polls have opened in three parliamentary seats where byelections are being held, with Rishi Sunak braced for an electoral test of his premiership.
The Conservative-held constituencies are being targeted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who hope to overturn large majorities and send Tory MPs off into the summer recess nervous about their own political futures come the general election.
Voters have been able to cast their ballots from 7am in the south-western Tory stronghold of Somerton and Frome, Boris Johnson’s old seat in the west London suburbs Uxbridge and South Ruislip, as well as Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire.
Sunak was privately downcast on Wednesday afternoon about the his party’s electoral prospects, in part given the nature of why the contests were triggered.
Johnson stood down to avoid being suspended from parliament over a report that found he misled MPs over Partygate. Nigel Adams quit after being passed over for a peerage. And David Warbuton, an MP in Somerset since 2015, quit after being investigated over claims of harassment and drug use.
On top of the circumstances of the byelections being called, Sunak’s party is also polling poorly, nationally. At a behind-closed-doors meeting of Tory backbenchers on the eve of the byelections, MPs said Sunak appeared to acknowledge the results would be “tough”.
If the Conservatives are trounced, Sunak could become the first prime minister since Harold Wilson in 1968 to lose three byelections in a single day.
I will be looking after the politics blog today. If you have any tips or suggestions, please get in touch: nicola.slawson@theguardian.com.
Reminder: Please don’t tell us how you voted in the comments section – Election law (specifically section 66A of the Representation of the People Act 1983) makes it an offence to publish before the polls close at 10pm.Many thanks.
You can read more from my colleague Aubrey Allegretti here:
Staff working for MPs need better HR access and a more supportive culture in parliament, but the system through which they are directly employed by members does not need to change, a report by a committee of MPs has concluded.
The Speaker’s conference on the employment conditions of members’ staff, chaired by Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, was set up last year following a wave of stories about sexual harassment and bullying in parliament.
There was particular concern that staff working directly for MPs, as opposed to those centrally employed by parliament, were vulnerable given the HR practices and working culture were directly set by the MP, who was also their employer.
Ahead of the inquiry, Hoyle called for a change to this system, suggesting the idea of an outside employer, meaning staff would have independent input into their careers and concerns.
But the report, produced by a cross-party group of 16 MPs, led by Hoyle, said the problems faced by staff were “not inherently related to the identity of the employer”, and that changing the employer would be expensive, time consuming, and “ultimately a blunt instrument”.
They said:
We conclude that the nature of the work of an MP, and the close working arrangements and personal loyalty between members and their staff mean that members should continue to be the employers of their staff.
The report, which will be debated in the Commons before it is implemented, sets out other proposals, including universal access to professional HR, and reforms to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which has a significant role in the contracts and salaries of MPs’ staff.
More widely, the MPs said, there was a need for “a culture which recognises and values the work that [MPs’ staff] do and makes these staff feel part of the wider parliamentary community”.
Rishi Sunak braced MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers on the eve of the polls on Wednesday night that they face a “tough battle” in what were seen as safe seats for his party.
The prime minister told them that governing parties rarely win by-elections but urged the MPs to unite in the face of any defeat as he pledged to “throw everything” at winning the next general election, PA News reports.
Labour hopes to snatch Uxbridge and South Ruislip, which was Boris Johnson’s seat until he quit, and Selby and Ainsty - vacated by his ally Nigel Adams’ resignation.
The Liberal Democrats are eying victory in the contest in Somerton and Frome that was triggered by David Warburton quitting after admitting cocaine use amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Losses for the Tories in all of them would be the first time in 55 years that a government has been defeated in three by-elections on the same day.
On Wednesday evening, Sunak was understood to have told his MPs:
In the coming months, I am going to set out more of what I would do if I had a full term.
I was recently described as a full spectrum modern Conservative and you are going to see that in the programme I lay out.
Sunak pledged to show the public “who is really on their side”, adding: “And that is what will propel us to victory.”
He was conscious of the battle he will face if voters roundly reject the Tory candidates, but urged MPs to unite ahead of a general election expected next year.
Sunak told the meeting.
When we come back in September we have a choice to make, all of us. Do we come together and throw everything at winning the next election or not? I’ve made my choice, I’m all in with you to win.
I promise you we can do this but we can only do it together as one team.
Tory backbencher Jonathan Gullis told reporters outside the meeting that the problem is “apathetic Conservative voters” rather than the public’s support for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
He said Sunak told them “what we already know, which is it’s going to be a tough battle” in the by-elections.
Tory MPs at the meeting said he did not address suggestions that he could spring a Cabinet reshuffle on Friday in an attempt to reset his premiership.
During a visit to Warwickshire, Sunak told reporters asking whether he would shake up his top team that “you would never expect me to comment on things like that” – in what was clearly not a denial.
He welcomed a fall in the rate of inflation as proof his government’s plans were working.
The prime minister’s press secretary acknowledged it would be tough for the Tories to hold the three seats on Thursday.
She said:
By-elections, for incumbent governments, are very difficult, that is the nature of them.
The election that the Conservative Party is most focused on is the general election.
Polls have opened in three parliamentary seats where byelections are being held, with Rishi Sunak braced for an electoral test of his premiership.
The Conservative-held constituencies are being targeted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who hope to overturn large majorities and send Tory MPs off into the summer recess nervous about their own political futures come the general election.
Voters have been able to cast their ballots from 7am in the south-western Tory stronghold of Somerton and Frome, Boris Johnson’s old seat in the west London suburbs Uxbridge and South Ruislip, as well as Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire.
Sunak was privately downcast on Wednesday afternoon about the his party’s electoral prospects, in part given the nature of why the contests were triggered.
Johnson stood down to avoid being suspended from parliament over a report that found he misled MPs over Partygate. Nigel Adams quit after being passed over for a peerage. And David Warbuton, an MP in Somerset since 2015, quit after being investigated over claims of harassment and drug use.
On top of the circumstances of the byelections being called, Sunak’s party is also polling poorly, nationally. At a behind-closed-doors meeting of Tory backbenchers on the eve of the byelections, MPs said Sunak appeared to acknowledge the results would be “tough”.
If the Conservatives are trounced, Sunak could become the first prime minister since Harold Wilson in 1968 to lose three byelections in a single day.
I will be looking after the politics blog today. If you have any tips or suggestions, please get in touch: nicola.slawson@theguardian.com.
Reminder: Please don’t tell us how you voted in the comments section – Election law (specifically section 66A of the Representation of the People Act 1983) makes it an offence to publish before the polls close at 10pm.Many thanks.
You can read more from my colleague Aubrey Allegretti here:
Nigel Farage has accused Coutts of behaving like Corbynista students after documents showed he was targeted because of his political views.
The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader had his bank account closed by Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest, after it said he did not align with its “values”.
Speaking to Newsnight about the dossier compiled on him, Mr Farage said: “The vitriol, the bias, the prejudice... It reads like a report read by a postgraduate Corbynista that literally hates everybody with a Conservative view. I was shocked, I was literally shocked.
“This was a personal hit job. It was like a brief to a barrister before a criminal trial. This bank are behaving now like a political campaigning organisation.”
It came as The Telegraph disclosed that Dame Alison Rose, the NatWest chief executive, sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the night before Mr Jack wrote a story claiming Mr Farage had been de-banked for “commercial” reasons – a story now described as “concerning” by the banking watchdog.
Nigel Farage has accused Coutts of behaving like Corbynista students after documents showed he was targeted because of his political views.
The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader had his bank account closed by Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest, after it said he did not align with its “values”.
Speaking to Newsnight about the dossier compiled on him, Mr Farage said: “The vitriol, the bias, the prejudice... It reads like a report read by a postgraduate Corbynista that literally hates everybody with a Conservative view. I was shocked, I was literally shocked.
“This was a personal hit job. It was like a brief to a barrister before a criminal trial. This bank are behaving now like a political campaigning organisation.”
It came as The Telegraph disclosed that Dame Alison Rose, the NatWest chief executive, sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the night before Mr Jack wrote a story claiming Mr Farage had been de-banked for “commercial” reasons – a story now described as “concerning” by the banking watchdog.
Polls have opened in three parliamentary seats where byelections are being held, with Rishi Sunak braced for an electoral test of his premiership.
The Conservative-held constituencies are being targeted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who hope to overturn large majorities and send Tory MPs off into the summer recess nervous about their own political futures come the general election.
Voters can cast their ballots from 7am on Thursday, across the south-western Tory stronghold of Somerton and Frome, Boris Johnson’s old seat in the west London suburbs Uxbridge and South Ruislip, as well as Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire.
Sunak was privately downcast on Wednesday afternoon about the his party’s electoral prospects, in part given the nature of why the contests were triggered.
Johnson stood down to avoid being suspended from parliament over a report that found he misled MPs over Partygate. Adams quit after being passed over for a peerage. And David Warbuton, an MP in Somerset since 2015, quit after being investigated over claims of harassment and drug use.
On top of the circumstances of the byelections being called, Sunak’s party is also polling poorly, nationally. At a behind-closed-doors meeting of Tory backbenchers on the eve of the byelections, MPs said he appeared to acknowledge the results would be “tough”.
If the Conservatives are trounced, Sunak could become the first prime minister since Harold Wilson in 1968 to lose three byelections in a single day.
The safest Tory seat is Selby and Ainsty – which delivered a 20,000 majority at the 2019 general election. Both Labour and the Conservatives say they expect the result to be tight – within about 1,000 votes. Keir Starmer’s party want to pull off a win there to show they can win in rural areas as well as metropolitan cities and their traditional former industrial heartlands. But the swing required is much greater than current polls suggest they would achieve at a general election.
Somerton and Frome should also be a Tory safe seat – with the party holding a 19,000 majority at the last election. But after the loss of Tiverton and Honiton last year, which saw an area in neighbouring Devon clinched by the Liberal Democrats, it is considered the most likely to flip.
In Uxbridge and South Ruislip, hopes of a Tory resurgence have grown in recent days given some anger at the extension of the London ultra-low emissions zone by the capital’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan.
The byelections will have a unique tinge to them. They will be the first parliamentary elections where voter ID is required, after the scheme was rolled out to council elections earlier this spring.
