Mail Bank Story = PACK OF LIES

As if to advertise as loudly, clumsily and dishonestly that the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press is in lockstep with the Government, is not interested in holding them to account, is not interested in addressing the real world concerns of its readership, and instead is interested only in deflection via crude propaganda, the Mail has run a real front page whopper today.

After former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage had taken out a king-sized onion and blubbered that the Rotten Woke Leftie banking system was agin him, with Coutts shutting down his account allegedly for no reason at all, and that no-one else would offer him an account, the Tories seized the opportunity to start another bogus culture war.

Farage claimed he was being persecuted because of his views; the Tories declared that they would investigate this cancellation of clients by the aforesaid Rotten Woke Leftie banking system. And so it came to pass that, rather than give the Tories a hard time over their inept handling of the economy, the NHS, and indeed anything else, the Mail went totally OTT.

“After Nigel Farage row, growing storm over accounts shut for political reasons … BANKS FACE PROBE INTO ‘CHILLING’ ACCOUNT CLOSURES” thundered the headline. There was more. “Banks are facing a Treasury investigation into claims they are closing customers' accounts because they do not like their views on controversial topics”. Really? Do go on.

“City minister Andrew Griffith has been asked to look into allegations that over-zealous lenders are blocking clients without good reason. A Tory MP who previously ran the banking industry's trade body warned that the practice would have a 'chilling effect' on free speech. It comes after leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage and an Anglican priest claimed their accounts were closed due to disagreements with their banks”. Allegations. Claims.

Who is this Tory MP? “Conservative MP Anthony Browne, a former chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, said people were increasingly having their accounts shut down for saying something the lender disagrees with”. No citation. And I suspect none will be forthcoming.

But there were a number of right-wing talking heads who didn’t see the media coming. Like, for instance, “Tory grandee Sir Charles Walker told GB News: 'We should be concerned - banks have been closing the bank accounts of politicians now for about six or seven years with very little reason to do so. This is just a continuing trend’”. No citation there, either.

Farage, like his fellow Brexiteer, disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, is a congenital liar. There was clearly something about his claims to have been cancelled by the Rotten Woke Leftie banking system that we were not being told. There had to be a straightforward explanation. And so it came to pass.

BBC Business Editor Simon Jack had asked Coutts, and they responded. “Nigel Farage fell below the financial threshold required to hold an account at Coutts … It also understood that he was offered a normal account at Natwest which owns Coutts”. So he ISN’T being refused a bank account by everyone.

What the f***'s my photo here for, c***?!?!?

He went on “People familiar with the matter rejected the notion that the decision to close his Coutts account was in any way political … ‘it was for commercial reasons - the criteria for holding a Coutts account are clear from the bank's website’”. So what say Nige when confronted by the facts?

“Mr Farage disputed the fact that he was offered a Natwest account at the time his Coutts accounts were withdrawn. He says offer of a Natwest account came late last week … The offer of a Natwest account still stands”. As to the other account, well: “Mr Farage also said that his business account for ‘Thorn in the Side Limited’ was closed”. Yes? Yes yes? Yes yes yes?

“Despite the fact that last year he had what he described as ‘large significant positive cash balances’ going through his business account … Coutts do not offer business banking services to customers who are not also private customers”. So the personal account goes, the business account goes, too. That means, Mail readers, you’ve been had. And not for the first time.

It also means that Farage has been rumbled. The Tories ordering an investigation that isn’t going to happen into something that’s not happening have been rumbled. And those labouring in the service of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre have been rumbled. As Gordon Brown told Damian McBride all those years ago, “Don’t. It’s the lie that gets you”.

The Tories could, of course, try doing some governing. And the Mail could try reporting what’s actually happening in the world. Just a thought.

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