[Youngian]

This all sounds like Captain Mainwaring turned down membership of the Warmington-on-Sea Golf Club, “they’re rather particular,” Sgt Wilson explained.

[Yug]

I'm just surprised that sunshine Ricky actually showed up for PMQs.

[Tubby Isaacs]

FT reporting he didn’t make commercial criteria.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Of course.

[Watchman]

Has Frog Face actually said its an official Coutts document; because
a) I would imagine their security is shit hot, so the likelihood of Fargle getting his hands on a bank document, which is probably only seen at director level, is highly unlikely. and
b) they will have a very top level legal team, so Fargle better have pretty conclusive proof
c) 40 pages?

[Youngian]

Unless I missed it, Farage doesn’t say where this document comes from. I do share Farage’s incredulity of the idea of a bank having values.

[Andy McDandy]

No logos, nothing you couldn't knock up in Word.

[Youngian]

I’ll roll back a bit because if I was a Coutts customer I would expect them to have professional values higher than whoever knocked that document out and then finds its way in a the public domain.

[Bones McCoy]

No logos, nothing you couldn't knock up in Word.

I'll file this alongside the Hitler Diaries until evidence of credibility is presented.


The various outside right factions uniting around this is a rare treat.
I've not seen its like since the "Reinstate Andrew Wakefield" campaign.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Very plausible explanation here.

He was "commercially viable" while he was paying his mortgage off. Once he did that, he wasn't. Funny he didn't tell us this, right?

[Youngian]

Farage does mention his mortgage in the above video.
A bank of Coutts’s standing also doesn’t like chiseling shysters who don’t pay their creditors.

[Spoonman]

In terms of "if it happened to me, it could happen to you", without doing a quick web search I vaguely recall that about a decade ago the Cooperative Bank unilaterally closing the accounts of either Stephen Yaxley-Lennon or the EDL because they believed that being associated with such vile people was not something they wanted to continue with. And that was just accepted as "fair 'nuff" by all except your local knuckle scrapers. But fast forward to 2023 to a spurious claim by an individual on similar grounds whom has similar political leanings but the only otherwise visible difference is that he wears a blazer instead of a balaclava...

I said it a few moments ago in the Rishi thread, but the state of the UK right now that this matter is deemed headline news.

[safe_timber_man]

Statement from Coutts:


https://news.sky.com/story/coutts-bank- ... w-12924062

Coutts bank has said it does not close customer accounts "solely on the basis of legally held political and personal views" as it came under heavy criticism for terminating its relationship with Nigel Farage.

A number of Conservatives publicly criticised the bank after the former Brexit Party leader claimed his account was closed down because his views did not align with the firm's "values".

In light of the row, the Treasury is preparing to force banks to give customers three months' notice of account closures and to provide a full explanation.

Banks also face losing their licences if they close accounts because they do not agree with a customer's political beliefs, amid concerns over free speech.

In a new statement issued on Thursday, a Coutts spokesperson acknowledged the "substantial interest" in the Farage case but said it could not comment in detail because of customer confidentiality obligations.

However, they stressed "it is not Coutts' policy to close customer accounts solely on the basis of legally held political and personal views".

"Decisions to close an account are not taken lightly and involve a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements," they said.

"We recognise the critical importance of access to banking. When it became clear that our client was unable to secure banking facilities elsewhere, and as he has confirmed publicly, he was offered alternative banking facilities with NatWest. That offer stands.

"We understand the public concern that the processes for ending a customer relationship, and how that is communicated, are not sufficiently transparent."

They added: "We welcome the anticipated HM Treasury recommendations in this area, alongside the ask to prioritise the review of the regulatory rules relating to politically exposed persons.

"We look forward to working with government, the regulator and the wider industry to ensure that universal access to banking is maintained."

Andrew Neil is currently on Twitter reaffirming that this is the hill he wishes to die on.

[Youngian]

Coppola has also observed correctly that Nat West and Coutts’s coporate PR has been lacking to allow Farage to steal a march. I guess Coutts PR department is a cushy number that’s never been troubled by crisis management before. Bet they’re charming old doffers you’d want for a neighbour. Unlike….

Would the Tories have circled the wagons if Tommeh wore a golf club blazer? I’ll ask Mr Neil.

[Youngian]

Putting reservations about Oborne and Corbyn’s naivety aside, this is a very interesting contribution

[Tubby Isaacs]

Bank has to give an explanation and notice (which Coutts seems to have given anyway), is that the upshot of all this?

[Andy McDandy]

It's "to my satisfaction" crap again.

[Boiler]

In response to Staines, I note that Frances Coppola has updated her Twitter profile, reproduced here as an image.

Frances Coppola.png (286.4 KiB) Viewed 5746 times

[davidjay]

This is getting increasingly like Thatcher's big bang, get rid of the gentleman stockbrokers and bring in the barrow boys strategy - set new money against the Establishment.

[Bones McCoy]

I was hoping she would go with.

It ain't personal, it's just business.

Coppola, Godfather, I'm here all week....