The BBC has apologised to Nigel Farage for suggesting his Coutts bank account was closed due to lack of funds rather than his political views.
The former Brexit Party leader claimed earlier this month that the prestigious bank he had been with for over 40 years has closed his account with “no explanation.”
The BBC then published a story suggesting Mr. Farage had his account shut for “falling below” the private bank’s wealth limit.
But last week, Mr. Farage released dossiers he had acquired from the bank, which indicated that Coutts shut his bank account because it found his public statements did “not align” with its values.
On Monday, the BBC’s business editor Simon Jack made a public apology to Mr. Farage for the “incomplete and inaccurate” information contained in the report.
‘Trusted and Senior Source’
In a Twitter post, Mr. Jack said: “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.”
The BBC updated the story last Friday with an acknowledgement that the information it reported “turned out not to be accurate.”
It told readers that the headline and article had been updated to reflect the fact that the “closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account came from a source.”
In a statement, the broadcaster said: “We acknowledge that the information we reported—that Coutts’s 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.”
Mr. Farage said he had received a letter from BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness, which he shared on his GB News programme.
In the letter, Ms. Turness apologised to him on behalf of BBC News.
She said, “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.”
‘Wrong at Every Level’
Talking to BBC Radio 4’s “PM” programme on Monday, Mr. Farage said he had accepted the broadcaster’s apology.He there was “no fault or blame on the BBC” and that the “spotlight” should now return to NatWest.
“If a very senior source gives you a good story, of course, you run it. There’s no question about that,” he said.
“It’s just that I had to go to very great lengths and great personal damage to undo the story. Some will say the BBC could have acted more quickly but there’s no fault or blame.
“This now goes right back to the NatWest banking group. Somebody in that group decided that it was appropriate, ethical, and legal to leak details of my personal financial situation. That, I think, is wrong at every level and that’s where the spotlight should be now, and it will.”
On Tuesday, cabinet minister Michael Gove said NatWest has “further to go” in resolving the matter.
Mr. Gove told Sky News: “I have a lot of sympathy for the position Nigel Farage has found himself in. As far as I can tell the decision that was taken to deprive him of banking facilities was a big mistake, something done for the wrong reasons.”
Though NatWest has apologised to Mr. Farage, Mr. Gove said the company “has further to go in order to make sure this matter ends appropriately.”
