NatWest boss quits after Nigel Farage leak admission - The Telegraph

NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose has finally stepped down effective immediately, after admitting that she leaked private banking information about Nigel Farage to the BBC.

Dame Alison fell on her sword just hours after Downing Street expressed “significant concerns” about plans for her to remain in her post.

Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest Group Board, said in a statement: “The Board and Alison Rose have agreed, by mutual consent, that she will step down as CEO of the NatWest Group. It is a sad moment.

“She has dedicated all her working life so far to NatWest and will leave many colleagues who respect and admire her.”

Dame Alison said: “I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth.

“My NatWest colleagues are central to that success, and so I would like to personally thank them for all that they have done.”

NatWest’s board was locked in emergency talks on Tuesday night over Dame Alison’s future. The board had initially expressed full confidence in her, but indicated it would dock her £5m a year pay and bonuses in a last ditch attempt to save her skin.

A statement from the board on Wednesday confirmed Paul Thwaite, the current chief executive of the company’s Commercial and Institutional business, would take over Dame Alison’s responsibilities for the next year, pending regulatory approval.

The appointment of a permanent successor would take place “in due course”, it said.

Dame Alison has quit her post as chief executive Credit: Bloomberg

Dame Alison’s resignation, which was widely anticipated in Government, follows weeks of growing controversy over Coutts’ decision to “de-bank” Mr Farage because of his political views.

But it will only fuel calls for further heads to roll with Mr Davies, the chairman of the NatWest Group which owns the upmarket bank, now directly in the firing line.

Dame Alison had earlier admitted she was the source of a BBC story which claimed Mr Farage’s account was closed because he fell below Coutts’ wealth threshold.

She acknowledged the briefing was a “serious error of judgment” but said she believed the information she disclosed to the broadcaster was already in the public domain.

The Telegraph last week revealed Dame Alison had sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the day before the BBC article was published.

‘Serious error of judgment’ 

In an earlier statement, Dame Alison said: “I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgment in discussing Mr Farage’s relationship with the bank.”

Dame Alison Rose statement in full

Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, earlier said Dame Alison, Coutts CEO Peter Flavel and Sir Howard Davies, the NatWest chairman, all deserved to lose their jobs over the scandal. 

Speaking on his GB News show, he said Dame Alison was “unfit” for her role, adding: “This is a serious breach. I hadn’t said to anybody that the bank I was having trouble with was Coutts... She chose to put it into the public domain with Simon Jack. She broke an essential confidence.”

Mr Farage also said he was unhappy with Dame Alison’s explanation, pointing out that the BBC had said in its own statement on Monday that it had gone back to her the next day to check its story and request approval to publish.

He wrote on Twitter:

The statements between NatWest and the BBC are contradictory. Someone is lying here. My full verdict and response at 7pm on @GBNEWS.

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 25, 2023

Meanwhile, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the banking watchdog, revealed that it had raised concerns about breaches of confidentiality by Coutts and its parent company NatWest and said it had “made clear” to the bigger bank the need for an independent review.

On Tuesday night, senior Conservative MPs demanded that Dame Alison resign or be fired from her job at a bank that is 39 per cent owned by the taxpayer.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary, said: “She has to go. She has admitted it and she has to go. She has broken one of the fundamental codes of banking and therefore she must go.”

‘She has broken the cardinal rule’

A City chief executive earlier on Tuesday said: “She has broken the cardinal rule of banking. An FCA investigation is inevitable now. Her position is untenable and she should resign. It’s ridiculous the board is backing her given the seriousness of the offence.”

The scandal engulfing NatWest comes after a Telegraph investigation revealed that Mr Farage’s accounts were closed after Coutts decided that the views of the former Ukip leader “do not align with our values”.

The BBC had previously run a story by Mr Jack that falsely claimed that Mr Farage had not met Coutts’ financial requirements. Dame Alison and Mr Jack had sat next to each other at a charity dinner the night before the BBC published its story on July 4.

Explaining what she had told Mr Jack, Dame Alison said in her statement: “Believing it was public knowledge, I confirmed that Mr Farage was a Coutts customer and that he had been offered a NatWest bank account. Alongside this, I repeated what Mr Farage had already stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision.”

She insisted she had not revealed “any personal financial information” about Mr Farage but admitted: “I left Mr Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one.

“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case. I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him.”

Mr Farage earlier called for Dame Alison to quit on Twitter: “Dame Alison Rose has now admitted that she is the source. She broke client confidentiality, and is unfit to be CEO of NatWest Group.

“Meanwhile, Coutts CEO Peter Flavel must take the ultimate responsibility for de-banking me based on my political views. Sir Howard Davies is responsible for overall governance. He has clearly failed in this task, least of all by endorsing their conduct. In my view, they should all go.”

The former Brexit Party leader has accused Mr Flavel of being “asleep at the wheel” throughout the scandal. He has written to him three times, but has yet to receive a reply and has called his handling of the crisis “an absolute disgrace”.

Bank backflips 

Hours before the announcement of Dame Alison’s resignation, Sir Howard Davies, NatWest’s chairman, said the bank was standing by Dame Alison.

In an earlier statement on Tuesday, he said: “This was a regrettable error of judgment on her part. The events will be taken into account in decisions on remuneration at the appropriate time.

“However, after careful reflection the board has concluded that it retains full confidence in Ms Rose as CEO of the bank.

“The board is clear that the overall handling of the circumstances surrounding Mr Farage’s accounts has been unsatisfactory, with serious consequences for the bank. The board will commission an independent review into the account closure arrangement at Coutts, and the lessons to be learnt from this.”

It is unclear whether Dame Alison’s leak to the BBC will form part of that independent inquiry. The FCA issued a warning to the bank that unless the review was “well resourced”, given full access to all “necessary” information and takes place “swiftly and fully”, it reserved the right to launch its own inquiry.

Sheldon Mills, the executive director at the FCA, said: “We have raised concerns with NatWest Group and Coutts about the allegations relating to account closures and breach of customer confidentiality since these came to light.

“We made clear our expectation that these issues should be independently reviewed and note (Tuesday’s) statement from the NatWest Group Board confirming this will happen. It is vital that the review is well resourced and those conducting it have access to all the necessary information and people in order to investigate what happened swiftly and fully.

“On the basis of the review and any steps taken by other authorities, such as the Financial Ombudsman Service or Information Commissioner, on relevant complaints, we will decide if any further action is necessary.”

The pressure on Dame Alison to admit her role in the leak had become overwhelming ahead of the publication on Friday of NatWest’s results for the first half of the year.

The announcement would have been dominated by questions over whether she was the source of the BBC story. 

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2023-07-26 03:09:00Z
2246872094

NatWest boss quits after Nigel Farage leak admission - The Telegraph

NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose has finally stepped down effective immediately, after admitting that she leaked private banking information about Nigel Farage to the BBC.

Dame Alison fell on her sword just hours after Downing Street expressed “significant concerns” about plans for her to remain in her post.

Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest Group Board, said in a statement: “The Board and Alison Rose have agreed, by mutual consent, that she will step down as CEO of the NatWest Group. It is a sad moment.

“She has dedicated all her working life so far to NatWest and will leave many colleagues who respect and admire her.”

Dame Alison said: “I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth.

“My NatWest colleagues are central to that success, and so I would like to personally thank them for all that they have done.”

NatWest’s board was locked in emergency talks on Tuesday night over Dame Alison’s future. The board had initially expressed full confidence in her, but indicated it would dock her £5m a year pay and bonuses in a last ditch attempt to save her skin.

A statement from the board on Wednesday confirmed Paul Thwaite, the current chief executive of the company’s Commercial and Institutional business, would take over Dame Alison’s responsibilities for the next year, pending regulatory approval.

The appointment of a permanent successor would take place “in due course”, it said.

Dame Alison has quit her post as chief executive Credit: Bloomberg

Dame Alison’s resignation, which was widely anticipated in Government, follows weeks of growing controversy over Coutts’ decision to “de-bank” Mr Farage because of his political views.

But it will only fuel calls for further heads to roll with Mr Davies, the chairman of the NatWest Group which owns the upmarket bank, now directly in the firing line.

Dame Alison had earlier admitted she was the source of a BBC story which claimed Mr Farage’s account was closed because he fell below Coutts’ wealth threshold.

She acknowledged the briefing was a “serious error of judgment” but said she believed the information she disclosed to the broadcaster was already in the public domain.

The Telegraph last week revealed Dame Alison had sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the day before the BBC article was published.

‘Serious error of judgment’ 

In an earlier statement, Dame Alison said: “I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgment in discussing Mr Farage’s relationship with the bank.”

Dame Alison Rose statement in full

Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, earlier said Dame Alison, Coutts CEO Peter Flavel and Sir Howard Davies, the NatWest chairman, all deserved to lose their jobs over the scandal. 

Speaking on his GB News show, he said Dame Alison was “unfit” for her role, adding: “This is a serious breach. I hadn’t said to anybody that the bank I was having trouble with was Coutts... She chose to put it into the public domain with Simon Jack. She broke an essential confidence.”

Mr Farage also said he was unhappy with Dame Alison’s explanation, pointing out that the BBC had said in its own statement on Monday that it had gone back to her the next day to check its story and request approval to publish.

He wrote on Twitter:

The statements between NatWest and the BBC are contradictory. Someone is lying here. My full verdict and response at 7pm on @GBNEWS.

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 25, 2023

Meanwhile, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the banking watchdog, revealed that it had raised concerns about breaches of confidentiality by Coutts and its parent company NatWest and said it had “made clear” to the bigger bank the need for an independent review.

On Tuesday night, senior Conservative MPs demanded that Dame Alison resign or be fired from her job at a bank that is 39 per cent owned by the taxpayer.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business secretary, said: “She has to go. She has admitted it and she has to go. She has broken one of the fundamental codes of banking and therefore she must go.”

‘She has broken the cardinal rule’

A City chief executive earlier on Tuesday said: “She has broken the cardinal rule of banking. An FCA investigation is inevitable now. Her position is untenable and she should resign. It’s ridiculous the board is backing her given the seriousness of the offence.”

The scandal engulfing NatWest comes after a Telegraph investigation revealed that Mr Farage’s accounts were closed after Coutts decided that the views of the former Ukip leader “do not align with our values”.

The BBC had previously run a story by Mr Jack that falsely claimed that Mr Farage had not met Coutts’ financial requirements. Dame Alison and Mr Jack had sat next to each other at a charity dinner the night before the BBC published its story on July 4.

Explaining what she had told Mr Jack, Dame Alison said in her statement: “Believing it was public knowledge, I confirmed that Mr Farage was a Coutts customer and that he had been offered a NatWest bank account. Alongside this, I repeated what Mr Farage had already stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision.”

She insisted she had not revealed “any personal financial information” about Mr Farage but admitted: “I left Mr Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one.

“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case. I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him.”

Mr Farage earlier called for Dame Alison to quit on Twitter: “Dame Alison Rose has now admitted that she is the source. She broke client confidentiality, and is unfit to be CEO of NatWest Group.

“Meanwhile, Coutts CEO Peter Flavel must take the ultimate responsibility for de-banking me based on my political views. Sir Howard Davies is responsible for overall governance. He has clearly failed in this task, least of all by endorsing their conduct. In my view, they should all go.”

The former Brexit Party leader has accused Mr Flavel of being “asleep at the wheel” throughout the scandal. He has written to him three times, but has yet to receive a reply and has called his handling of the crisis “an absolute disgrace”.

Bank backflips 

Hours before the announcement of Dame Alison’s resignation, Sir Howard Davies, NatWest’s chairman, said the bank was standing by Dame Alison.

In an earlier statement on Tuesday, he said: “This was a regrettable error of judgment on her part. The events will be taken into account in decisions on remuneration at the appropriate time.

“However, after careful reflection the board has concluded that it retains full confidence in Ms Rose as CEO of the bank.

“The board is clear that the overall handling of the circumstances surrounding Mr Farage’s accounts has been unsatisfactory, with serious consequences for the bank. The board will commission an independent review into the account closure arrangement at Coutts, and the lessons to be learnt from this.”

It is unclear whether Dame Alison’s leak to the BBC will form part of that independent inquiry. The FCA issued a warning to the bank that unless the review was “well resourced”, given full access to all “necessary” information and takes place “swiftly and fully”, it reserved the right to launch its own inquiry.

Sheldon Mills, the executive director at the FCA, said: “We have raised concerns with NatWest Group and Coutts about the allegations relating to account closures and breach of customer confidentiality since these came to light.

“We made clear our expectation that these issues should be independently reviewed and note (Tuesday’s) statement from the NatWest Group Board confirming this will happen. It is vital that the review is well resourced and those conducting it have access to all the necessary information and people in order to investigate what happened swiftly and fully.

“On the basis of the review and any steps taken by other authorities, such as the Financial Ombudsman Service or Information Commissioner, on relevant complaints, we will decide if any further action is necessary.”

The pressure on Dame Alison to admit her role in the leak had become overwhelming ahead of the publication on Friday of NatWest’s results for the first half of the year.

The announcement would have been dominated by questions over whether she was the source of the BBC story. 

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2023-07-26 03:01:00Z
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Ministers tell police to respond to fewer mental health-related 999 calls - The Guardian

Ministers have told police forces to rapidly cut the number of mental health-related 999 calls they respond to in order to free up an estimated million hours a year of police time, in a move that mental health experts fear could be dangerous.

Announcing a new national strategy for the police’s role in mental health emergencies, Chris Philp, the policing minister, said forces should still attend calls involving mental health issues whenever there is a risk to public safety and if there is a crime.

But 999 call handlers will be given new guidelines to divert more calls to health services amid frustration that police are being asked to do mental health welfare checks that are not related to crime or public safety.

Police officers who find themselves with non-criminal mental health incidents will be urged to hand over cases to health workers within an hour rather than spending far longer escorting them to hospital or another safe place and staying with them before handover – for as long as 14 hours in some cases.

Dr Sarah Hughes, the chief executive of Mind, the mental health charity, said the announcement was deeply worrying. “[It] goes nowhere near offering enough guarantees that these changes will be introduced safely – there is no new funding attached and no explanation of how agencies will be held accountable,” she said. “It is simply impossible to take a million hours of support out of the system without replacing it with investment, and mental health services are not resourced to step up overnight.”

The new plan, known as “right care, right person” (RCRP), looks likely to create tension between police and health services over the speed of rollout and the resources available to ensure vulnerable people do not fall between the cracks. It states that “police forces will ultimately determine the timeframe for implementing the RCRP approach locally” but it “should be established following engagement with health, social care and other relevant partners.”.

Amid increasing pressure on the NHS mental health workforce, health officials are urging a cautious pace in rolling out the change, stressing that extending the mental health workforce is “a work in progress”.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said the plan must not be “a green light for a unilateral discontinuation” of police involvement in mental health emergencies, describing that as “a real danger to patients”.

Dr Lade Smith, the president of the RCP, called for more funding and said: “The fact is there are certain legal powers only held by the police such as the power to convey a person in crisis from a public place to a place of safety, and so mental health is always going to be police business.”

Mind said it would be “dangerous for forces to step back while local communities and health systems work out how to respond”.

The NHS mental health workforce increased by 22% overall in 2021-22 compared with 2016-17, but referrals to the services they provide were up by 44%, according to a parliamentary report last week.

NHS England’s mental health director, Claire Murdoch, said police and health services must assess “the additional resources they will need to deliver this”.

The government did not announce any new funding but cited a previously announced £2.3bn-a-year investment from next April to create an extra 2m additional mental health treatment packages and £150m for urgent and emergency mental health care services.

The Guardian revealed in May that the Met police commissioner, Mark Rowley, had set a deadline of 31 August for health services to take on mental health calls in London, saying “the status quo is untenable”. Rowley said that at times less than a third of 999 calls were crime-related. Mind said it was deeply concerned at the deadline.

Philp said that with police time freed up he expected “more visible patrolling in town centres … faster response times and … more resources dedicated to investigating crime.” Eventually, the public will be urged to call 111 instead of 999 to tackle mental health emergencies, but first 999 operators will apply a new threshold in deciding whether to escalate mental health-related cases to the police.

Senior police officers said they could not rule out that non-attendance at mental health calls by police officers might result in injuries or deaths, but said there was no evidence of that so far.

Maria Caulfield, the mental health minister, said: “Anyone going through something as awful as a mental health crisis deserves to know they’ll receive the best possible emergency response. It’s vital the right people who are trained and skilled to deal with the situation are on the scene to assist.”

Philp said there should not be a gap in response between police and health services. He wants the change complete in two years. “These are services that the NHS is in their remit to provide anyway … we’re not creating a new demand,” he said. “It’s something the NHS should always be doing.”

The National Police Chiefs Council lead for policing and mental health, Rachel Bacon, said that when police were sent, people in mental health crises often felt criminalised. “This is not about us stepping away from mental health incidents, it is about ensuring the most vulnerable people receive the appropriate care, which we are not always best placed to provide,” she said.

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2023-07-26 01:30:00Z
2282754512

The Tories have laid a ‘cut the green crap’ trap for Keir Starmer. He must not fall for it - The Guardian

Perversely, a spectacular week for Labour somehow ended up with an assault on the party’s green policies, amid hints of internal wobbling. Despite a record Labour trouncing of a Tory majority in Selby and Ainsty, a 7% swing to Labour in Uxbridge and South Ruislip became a story about Labour in trouble, over a seat not even won in Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide.

Labour always struggles to make its narrative heard against the wall of sound from the massed foghorns of the Tory media, but the party needs more nimbleness to duck being defined by the enemy. Keir Starmer’s public rebuke to Sadiq Khan to “reflect” on his Ulez policy was a badly pitched red-on-red news story. Instead, they should have publicly agreed more generous car-scrappage schemes so that the cost of cleaning up child-killing pollution doesn’t have to fall on lower-paid drivers. Having also lost a council seat in Cambridge this month to a Conservative who stood on a platform of fighting a proposed congestion charge, Labour knows its green policies need to fall fairly on the broadest shoulders. Instead, it has allowed the Uxbridge result to distract from an electoral success that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago.

Those around Starmer swear there is no green wobbling: if there was any briefing to the Murdoch press against Ed Miliband’s greenery, it must have come from some strutting loose-lipped junior. But the gossip had legs after that delay to Labour’s £28bn green investment plan – a delay devised as proof of Labour’s iron fiscal discipline. In reality, getting spades in the ground, battery factories built, workforces trained for new green jobs and wind turbines ready to whirl will take time anyway: capital spending can start rolling out as needed.

Here’s why there will be no green retreat: Labour’s green policy is no nice-to-have decoration separate from its economic strategy. That “fairer, greener future” slogan at the last Labour conference is the very heart of Starmer’s “growth, growth, growth” plan. Modelled on Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, it’s an even bigger green investment per capita than Biden’s. Those billions are why Starmer dares promise to outdo the G7 on growth, with job-generating renewables publicly owned by Great British Energy, and by building new and insulating old homes.

Michael Gove set the tone for the most recent Tory attacks, accusing Labour of a “religious crusade” as he sheds his own green policies. Grant Shapps vows to “max out” Britain’s North Sea oil reserves, against Labour’s pledge to give no new licences.

But if the Tories insist on green warfare, more fool them. Labour has green policies designed to bring savings, not new costs, to voters’ energy bills.

Remember, Gove was there in 2013 beside David Cameron when he cut the “green crap” and abandoned subsidies for renewables, despite all that “vote blue, go green” husky-hugging designed to de-nasty his party. Cutting “the crap” added £2.5bn to UK household bills, while the number of homes getting their lofts insulated fell by a shocking 92%, and those getting cavity wall insulation by 74%. Abandoning the zero-carbon homes standard meant most new homes have been built with lower energy-efficiency standards – and higher energy bills. Worst of all was barring onshore wind to appease his nimby MPs: failing to use the cheapest energy costs households £180 a year – and onshore wind, even in people’s back yards, is popular.

If Labour needs more green ammunition, Gove’s attack on Natural England, undermining basic environmental standards for new developments, goes against public sentiment: Tory voters tend to like nature and hate sewage in their rivers.

If the Tories are mad and bad enough to want green wars, the public will be on Labour’s side because its green message is not about sacrifice, but about growth-inducing investment, cutting costs. Ed Miliband, who has been close to Starmer over many years, has been masterly in setting that tone as the guarantor of Labour’s green intentions. (No, Starmer never said he “hates tree-huggers” – that was a Tory lie, according to his team.)

Lisa Nandy is the other pillar of Starmer’s growth strategy, with her huge house-building ambitions, planning for 70% of people to own their own homes and the majority of the rest to have secure social housing. Decent homes standards will apply to private as well as social landlords, sparking widespread repairs – another engine of growth.

It’s a bit late for Gove’s promise to complete a million homes in this parliament, as the Conservative manifesto pledged in 2019: Knight Frank says it’s “unlikely to have a meaningful impact on housing supply”. Under the 15 Tory housing ministers since 2010, housebuilding in England is due to fall to its lowest level since the second world war, Nandy points out. Since the government caved in to its nimbys and abandoned compulsory local housing targets, 58 local authorities have delayed or withdrawn their local housing plans.

On Monday, Gove managed to simultaneously boast of exempting developments from planning permission and promise lots more planners to unblock the backlog of planning applications. But that backlog was created by his own government’s 43% cuts to the planning system since 2010. Abandoning local planning rules may please some developers, but not most voters who care about their neighbourhoods. The very word “planning” horrifies out-of-touch libertarian and anti-green Tory MPs.

Bereft battalions of old Brexiters now resurrect themselves under the anti-net zero banner, apparently oblivious to public opinion. God help us, the Sunday Telegraph is even calling for a referendum on net zero. In spirit, these MPs ally themselves to countries among the G20 who this weekend disastrously blocked a plan to phase down fossil fuels and triple renewable energy capacity – mainly Russia, China and Saudi Arabia.

These Brexiters turned climate ignorers will try to drum up anti-Labour fears among Aberdeen oil workers and the few miners elsewhere who may not believe in Labour’s new green jobs until they see them. They will try to frighten drivers, so Labour needs to be sure-footed about explaining who pays for transition costs. Just Stop Oil is the Tories’ convenient target: protesters need more cleverness in engaging the public without enraging them.

But as the world boils for all to see, a back-woods Tory campaign against good climate policies is a losing cause. The latest Office for National Statistics public opinion survey finds top issues “continued to be the cost of living (92%), the NHS (88%), the economy (79%), climate change and the environment (62%) and housing (62%).” No complacency, but the Tories are dead in the water on all of those.

Labour can make common cause with those beleaguered Tories who see sense on the climate, but they have nothing to fear from the Jacob Rees-Mogg cadre of unelectables in pursuit of the unsurvivable. Any Labour advisers urging green retreat should be sent to spend their summer holiday on the island of Rhodes.

• Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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2023-07-25 07:00:27Z
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Former Boris Johnson aide joins Lords as youngest ever life peer - The Guardian

Charlotte Owen, a former aide to Boris Johnson, has taken her seat as the youngest ever life peer in the House of Lords, despite criticism over her lack of professional experience. The 30-year-old became Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge after being formally introduced to the upper chamber on Monday afternoon.

Johnson nominated seven of his close allies to the Lords as part of his controversial resignation honours list, of which Owen was one of the last to take her seat.

Three of those nominated were in their 30s, including Ross Kempsell, a 31-year-old former journalist, and Ben Houchen, the 36-year-old Tees Valley mayor.

The former prime minister’s decision to nominate Owen was criticised not only because of her age, but also because of her relatively junior role. She was an official in Downing Street under Johnson, but her exact role and length of tenure have been questioned.

While her own LinkedIn profile states that she served as a No 10 special adviser from February 2021 until October 2022, she is not listed in the official government directory of special advisers published in June 2021.

Owen graduated from the University of York in 2015 before working for the communications firm Portland. She was a constituency intern for the Tory MP William Wragg for one month and then worked for others in the party, including Chris Heaton-Harris, Alok Sharma and Jake Berry.

Owen is not the only name on Johnson’s resignation honours list to have prompted questions. Kulveer Ranger was nominated to the Lords after serving as director of transport policy while Johnson was London mayor. But he was also credited as having been a “special adviser to the UK government on digital strategy” – a role that does not appear on his LinkedIn profile.

Houchen has been accused of “industrial-scale corruption” over a redevelopment project at the former Redcar steelworks, something he has denied.

The list also triggered upset among some of those whose names did not appear, including Nadine Dorries, who has threatened to quit as MP for Mid Bedfordshire after accusing Downing Street of having manoeuvred to make sure she would not receive a peerage. Dorries first said she would quit over a month ago immediately after the honours list was published, but has still not done so.

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2023-07-25 01:30:00Z
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NatWest chairman Sir Howard Davies faces fateful decision over Farage 'debanking' - The Telegraph

Sir Howard Davies was preparing to leave NatWest in triumph. After serving eight years as chairman of the FTSE 100 lender, the Manchester-born economist announced in April that he planned to step down from the role by July next year. 

Despite struggling to revive the bank’s share price, the City grandee’s stint has widely been regarded as a success: returning NatWest to majority private ownership; steering it through a sweeping restructuring; and overseeing a boost to profitability. 

But Coutts’ decision to “debank” Nigel Farage because his views were at odds with the lender’s “values” has put paid to any hopes Sir Howard had of seeing out his remaining time at NatWest quietly. 

While the group conducts a review into processes at Coutts – the private bank that NatWest owns – questions remain over who leaked Farage’s personal information to the BBC, with some even questioning Dame Alison Rose’s position as chief executive. 

Nigel Farage bank account story

Given that Sir Howard, as chairman, is responsible for overseeing governance at the bank, as well as the performance of executives, his final stint at the lender is likely to be dominated by the Farage fallout. 

How will the 72-year-old handle the crisis? 

Before holding a variety of senior positions across the City, Sir Howard was a regulator, serving as a deputy governor at the Bank of England before becoming the inaugural chairman of the Financial Services Regulator (FSR) – the predecessor to today’s City watchdog. 

In a 2001 interview, Sir Howard laid out his vision for the FSR, which was set up by Tony Blair’s Labour government. He said: “My concern is that people do not appreciate the fact that we’re going to be quite a major reforming regulator over the next few years.”

But unlike the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today, Howard appeared less interested in regulating the “culture” of companies. Instead, he said that he wanted the FSR to go after the “real rogues who are dealing on inside information”. 

He also gave his view on the honorary title bestowed on him: “I don’t use it all. Not in any aspect of my life, except in newspapers who tirelessly insist on it. I just don’t like it. I know it’s a quirky thing. We get no correspondence addressed to ‘Sir and Lady’ from anyone.” 

After leaving the FSR in 2003, the cycling enthusiast and a Manchester City fan became director of the London School of Economics but resigned in 2011 after accepting that the university’s reputation had “suffered” after accepting a £1.5m donation from Saif al-Islam, Colonel Gaddafi’s son.

At the time, he said it had been wrong to conclude that “it was just about reasonable” to accept the donation but added that there were no sanctions on dealing with the Libyan regime. 

Sir Howard held senior roles in the FSR, the London School of Economics, and Phoenix Group before NatWest Credit: Eddie Mulholland

Sir Howard’s first big job in the City came in 2012 when he was appointed chairman of London-listed insurer Phoenix before taking up his current position at NatWest in 2015. 

The bank’s board of directors, led by Sir Howard, appointed Dame Alison to the top job in late 2019, making her the first woman to lead a major British lender.

At the time, he said: “She brings extensive experience and a track record of success from her previous roles at the bank. Following a rigorous internal and external process, I am confident that we have appointed the best person for the job.”

But the Farage saga has raised question marks about Dame Alison’s leadership. Last week, she apologised to Farage over the closure of his accounts, but questions remain about who leaked information about his banking details to the BBC. 

Earlier this month, the broadcaster’s business editor Simon Jack reported that the accounts had been closed because Mr Farage did not have enough money – but The Telegraph later revealed that the decision was connected to his views not aligning with Coutts’ “values”.

It was also revealed that Dame Alison and Jack were sitting next to each other at a charity event the night before Jack reported the story regarding Farage’s account. 

The pressure intensified last week when Boris Johnson called on Dame Alison to resign if she is found to have leaked the details to the BBC and called for ministers to hold a leak inquiry. 

NatWest declined to comment on the former prime minister’s column.

On Monday, both Jack and the BBC issued an apology to Mr Farage for “incomplete and inaccurate” reporting. Jack added that the story came from “a trusted and senior source”. 

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.

— Simon Jack (@BBCSimonJack) July 24, 2023

However, not everyone in the City thinks that the Government should intervene in the fiasco. 

Gary Greenwood, a banking analyst at Shore Capital, says: “It’s certainly clumsy management but banks are terrified of doing something wrong given the significant regulatory fines they have been hit with in the past and could be hit with in the future for breaches of rules.” 

He adds: “So they are having to tread an increasingly narrow tightrope in this respect.  That said, these are still independent businesses and should be allowed to choose which customers they deal with like any other independent business can.  

“Ultimately, I just think it will lead to lenders having to be more explicit about their customer criteria and demonstrating thorough processes when such criteria are not met. I doubt something like this would lead to Alison Rose stepping down or being sacked though.”

One City chief executive adds: “I think it’s likely that Alison Rose was probably unaware of the Coutts report. I think it is pretty crazy that there are calls for her to go.”

The next steps in this saga are likely to come when NatWest’s internal review of Coutts processes is complete, which will report to Dame Alison rather than Sir Howard.

However, Farage has vowed to find out who was behind the leak, which could threaten to blow the saga into a full-blown scandal.  

Speaking on GB News last week, the leading Brexiteer said: “Can I ask you, Dame Alison, was it you? Was it you that breached my private client banking confidentiality? Was it you that told Simon Jack that?

“Well, I’m going to find out, because today I’ve put in another subject access request, this time to NatWest bank and in particular I’m looking for any personal correspondence, Dame Alison, that concerns me. So in 30 days time, we’ll know the absolute truth.”

This is where Sir Howard and the rest of the board, who have so far not commented on the Farage saga, will play a crucial role. 

Normally outspoken, Sir Howard would ordinarily struggle to find common ground with the former UKIP leader. Last year he branded Brexit a “significant mistake”.

But after his time at the London School of Economics, Sir Howard has personal experience of how some controversies are not survivable for executives. 

If the identity of the leaker is ultimately revealed at NatWest or Coutts, he might be the one making the fateful decision this time round.

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2023-07-24 21:13:00Z
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Michael Gove claims government's 300000 housebuilding target was always optional - The Independent

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Michael Gove has claimed the government’s target of building 300,000 homes a year was always optional – but insisted that the Tories will still meet it.

In a speech in London, the housing secretary said the target, set in 2017 by the then chancellor Philip Hammond, had “never” been mandatory.

But he pledged to meet the ambition by the middle of the decade with intensive building in cities, as he unveiled plans that would make it easier to convert empty retail premises into flats, as well as a push to expand Cambridge.

It comes after The Independent revealed that the majority of councils had failed to build a single social home in the past five years, as 1.2 million families languish on waiting lists.

Housing charities described Mr Gove’s plan as a “mixed bag” and warned that stuffing people into unsuitable converted accommodation could make the housing crisis worse.

And Conservative MPs – some of whom are against new housing in their areas – seized on the housing secretary’s plan for an urban extension of Cambridge and vowed to fight it.

In a speech in King’s Cross, Mr Gove said the government would be “unequivocally, unapologetically and intensively concentrating our biggest efforts in the hearts of our cities”.

“We haven’t dropped the 300,000 target,” he said. “It’s a conclusion that people have drawn erroneously, if I can put it politely.”

Asked about reports that ministers are changing the target so that it is no longer mandatory, he said: “It never was. The 300,000 target remains as it always has been.”

Mr Gove however conceded that the government was making “specific changes” to the National Planning Policy Framework that would alter the way the local plans are drawn up.

Under these changes, the way the national ambition for 300,000 homes is translated into local housing targets would give individual councils more room for manoeuvre. Critics say it will result in fewer homes being built.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak was also talking about housing on Monday

A report by the Commons housing committee published earlier this month said these plans would make it “impossible to achieve” the 300,000 ambition nationally.

But Mr Gove on Monday said he was “confident we’re on a trajectory to reach that 300,000 target”.

The housing secretary also used his speech to accuse Labour of wanting to concrete over the countryside after the opposition announced earlier this year that it wanted to build more housing on green-belt land.

The housing secretary said the opposition’s approach to planning would lead to “erosion of environmental assets,” “communities opposing development”, and that it would not provide “the scale of growth that we need”.

But shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy said: “It takes some serious brass neck for the Tories to make yet more promises when the housing crisis has gone from bad to worse on their watch.”

Quizzing the government in the House of Lords, Labour’s Baroness Taylor mocked the policy, telling peers: “With over a million people on social housing waiting lists, and 7,000 social rented homes built last year, does the minister really think a few flats built over chip shops is going to solve the problem? My Lords, it’s like putting a sticking plaster on a severed limb.”

The government has a target to be building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s

Previous attempts by the government since 2010 to light a fire under housebuilding have met opposition from inside the Conservative Party, and Gove faces an uphill battle to get his plans through.

Ahead of the speech, South Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne said he would “do everything I can to stop the government’s nonsense plans to impose mass housebuilding on Cambridge”. He said the area was already suffering from a water shortage which further development could make worse.

Asked about the MP’s comments Mr Gove replied: “I’m sure we’ll find a compelling way forward. We can’t have Cambridge – an exceptional city – being held back.”

Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, described the speech as “a real mixed bag”.

“We need proper investment to build much-needed genuinely affordable homes, not more piecemeal reform,” she said.

“Converting takeaways and shops into homes and restricting building to city centres won’t help. It could risk creating poor quality, unsafe homes that cause more harm than good.

“When we are losing more social housing than we build, the government must work with councils to deliver the quality homes local communities across the country need. The secretary of state clearly agrees these homes are essential, so the government should put its money where its mouth is and get on with building a new generation of social homes.”

Stewart Baseley, the executive chair of the Home Builders Federation, said: “Whilst welcoming the recognition from government that it needs to act if we are to build more homes, the proposals do little to address the major reasons why housing supply is falling.

“The government needs to focus on why the planning process is collapsing and reverse the proposals to weaken the planning system that have now seen 59 local authorities withdraw their housing plans.”

Speaking during a visit to the West Midlands on Monday, Rishi Sunak said the government was “making good progress” towards the 300,000 target.

“Actually, if you look at what has happened over the past few years, we have seen some of the biggest years for new housing supply that we’ve seen in decades and in the last year that we have figures for, the highest number of first-time buyers in over 20 years,” he said.

“We are making progress, I’m proud of that progress, and we’re not stopping there. But we’ve got to do it in the right way, I don’t want to concrete over the countryside, that’s something that is very special about Britain.

“I also don’t want to ride roughshod over the views of communities and their representatives. We want to build in the right places – that’s more brownfield, expanding upwards and outwards, densifying our inner cities.

“These are practical ways to continue delivering homes. Our record on this is fantastic, 2.2 million homes since 2010, but we’re not stopping there.”

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2023-07-24 21:03:40Z
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