Nigel Farage has received an apology from the BBC for its inaccurate report regarding the cause of the closure of his Coutts bank account.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the BBC reported on July 4 that Mr. Farage no longer satisfied the financial requirements for Coutts.
Later, the former UKIP leader obtained a Coutts report, which revealed that his political opinions were also taken into account.
Farage told the BBC that Coutts still needs to answer some questions and added that he accepted the apologies "with good grace.".
He thanked Simon Jack, the business editor at BBC News, and Deborah Turness, the CEO of the organization, for their sincere apologies.
"The BBC doesn't often apologize. But I'm very, very happy that the BBC has apologized," Mr. Farage said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's PM program, Mr. Farage claimed that in order to dispel rumors, he had to publish a lot of information.
According to Mr. Farage, "I had to go to very great lengths and great personal damage to undo the story.".
"The BBC is not at fault or to blame. The Natwest Banking Group is now the direct recipient of this.
"Someone in that group decided that disclosing information about my personal financial situation was appropriate, legal, and moral. That, in my opinion, is incorrect on all counts, and that is the area where the spotlight should be—and will be.
In a tweet expressing regret, Mr. Jack claimed that his information came "from a reliable and senior source.".
But it turned out that the data was inaccurate and incomplete. I want to apologize to Mr. Farage as a result," Mr. Jack continued.
Jack claims in the tweet that his information came from a reliable senior source, Mr. Farage continued. I'd venture to guess that a very senior source may have been involved. More on this in a moment. ".
The BBC updated its original article on July 21 and stated that it had "not been accurate.". The BBC was then requested to issue a formal apology by Mr. Farage.
On Monday, the BBC issued an apology to Mr. Farage and acknowledged that the information it had reported—that Coutts' decision regarding Mr. Farage's account was made without taking into account his political views—had been incorrect. ".
Mr. Farage claimed that Coutts, a company owned by NatWest, did not provide him with a justification for closing his account.
Mr. Farage claimed on Radio 4 at the time that the BBC had fallen for "spin" and that he had been "cancelled" due to his political beliefs.
After that, Mr. Farage obtained a document that evaluated his suitability as a Coutts client.
Minutes from a meeting in November of last year that reviewed Mr. Farage's account were included in the 40-page document that was given to him.
In addition to raising concerns about the reputational risk of having Mr. Farage as a client, the document raised concerns that he was "xenophobic and racist.".
Given his "publicly stated views," it was stated that having Mr. Farage as a client did not align with Coutts' "position as an inclusive organization.".
Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest Group, apologized to Mr. Farage on Thursday for what she called the "deeply inappropriate" remarks.
She added that she had commissioned a thorough examination of Coutts' procedures for closing bank accounts.
MPs should question Dame Alison, according to Mr. Farage.
In response to the conflict between Mr. Farage and NatWest, the Treasury has also scheduled a meeting with bank executives to discuss account closures.
The BBC will be hoping that its apology puts an end to the story. .
A reliable source provided false information to the reporter who wrote the article. According to that source, the bank's decision-making process was unaffected by politics, and the closure of Mr. Farage's account was solely motivated by business considerations.
That wasn't accurate. .
The fallout provides insight into a fundamental principle of journalism: story sourcing. It's common journalistic practice not to identify sources because it's important for reporters to be able to trust them.
That trust was violated in this situation.
