Farage - Stop Grovelling To Him

Here in Portugal, anyone involved in politics or punditry knows all about former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, after he claimed that the EU had interfered in the country’s 2015 General Election. There had been no interference: Nige was, as so often, talking well, but lying badly. There was no new Brezhnev doctrine, no tanks on the streets.

Like his contemporary, disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Farage is a congenital liar who is in the game purely for the advancement of Himself Personally Now, and who does not care about the damage his interventions do to his country. This should be borne in mind when considering his recent banking problems.

Ms Thirsty used to bank with Coutts, and my goodness, did he like to trowel it on. But Coutts recently decided they could get along without him. So Farage then told the world that he had been cancelled by the Rotten Woke Leftie Banking Blob because of his views. He was lying. But his lies got out there before the truth, and therefore became established in peoples’ minds.

It was then revealed that his account had fallen below one threshold set by Coutts (a million in the current account). But he met another threshold, three mil in deposits and loans, because he had an outstanding mortgage. The mortgage was paid off, and so he did not meet either threshold. Coutts had decided to end his arrangement with them. This they did.

But, as Farage had some difficulty getting an account elsewhere, NatWest, the parent company of Coutts, offered him an account. Mr Thirsty kicked off big time, maintaining he had been cancelled and made an un-person for his views. FREEZE PEACH! FREEZE PEACH!! Then the hated BBC revealed that Coutts ending his arrangement was a commercial decision.

But then a dossier was obtained by Farage that showed Coutts had discussed his views, even though it was clear that his arrangement had been ended because he didn’t meet the commercial criteria laid down. So, again, he kicked off about being cancelled for his views. He was still lying. And then something happened that should not have happened. The Beeb apologised.

The BBC had said Mr Thirsty had his Coutts account closed because he no longer met the criteria for banking with them. THIS WAS FACTUALLY CORRECT. But now, someone in the Corporation’s management had declared the report “inaccurate” because it did not mention the discussion of Farage’s views. Even though his views did not play a part in the decision.

The critical internal email, dated 10th March this year, makes clear “The relationship has been below commercial criteria for some time ... the decision was taken to exit upon repayment of an existing mortgage”. Full stop. End of story. Case closed. Finito, Benito. Farage was not, repeat was not, repeat WAS NOT, cancelled, kicked out or whatever because of his views.

But Farage had only just got started: he now wanted Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest, to go over the affair. The Government has a 39% stake in the company. So what did they do, as responsible shareholders? Tell Farage to shove his bluster? No. They agreed with the SOB and now Alison Rose has gone. Today Farage, sensing he’s on a roll, said the whole board should go.

He has gone on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and told “I was kicked out of the bank because of my political views”. THIS IS A LIE. But he was not seriously challenged on it. Why not? Who at the BBC is allowing this revision of fact to take hold? Were I a betting man, I’d have a serious punt of rabid Brexiteer Robbie Gibb being rather adjacent to the decision making process.

And Gibb should never have been allowed near that process in the first place. The Farage fiasco shows what happens when the Corporation tries to “both sides” everything and allow charlatans like Farage house room - like giving him what amounts to a season ticket for Question Time. It emboldens liars.

Which now, it seems, includes economic secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith, who has said of Alison Rose’s resignation “This would never have happened if NatWest had not taken it upon itself to withdraw a bank account due to someone’s lawful political views. That was and is always unacceptable”. NatWest didn’t do that. GRIFFITH IS LYING.

Thus the problem: Farage lies, the BBC apologises and in doing so suggests he wasn’t lying, and now a junior minister lies. So those who have told the truth are subjected to monstering and abuse, not least Frances Coppola, who went on BBC Newsnight and told Farage the bad news.

And to those people, she has said simply “To all the trolls telling me I should apologise: are you too dim to understand ‘I told the truth’, or is ‘truth’ a foreign concept to you? I will not apologise, because I have nothing to apologise for”. Meanwhile, Farage’s lies become fact. Government and BBC say so.

After Mr Thirsty lied about those elections in Portugal, the initial bemusement gave way to ridicule. He was, effectively, laughed out of court. It would have served politics in the UK far better had that happened there too.

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