BBC finally caves and apologises to Nigel Farage over ‘inaccurate’ Coutts story

Nicholas Owen says BBC should apologise to Farage

BBC business editor Simon Jack has finally apologised to Nigel Farage for publishing false information about his personal finances.

Mr Jack made the claims 20 days ago that the former Brexit Party leader turned GB News host had “fallen below the wealth threshold” for Coutts bank which was why his account was being cancelled.

It became clear that Mr Jack had been briefed by someone from the NatWest group which owns Coutts on the personal finances of Mr Farage.

However, it emerged from documents Mr Farage forced the bank to hand over, that it was his political beliefs which had seen him stripped of an account by Coutts.

In a statement on Twitter, 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.”

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Mr Jack and the BBC had been under pressure to issue an apology since Mr Farage revealed the documents from Coutts.

The former Brexit Party leader has also received an apology from NatWest Dame Alison Rose.

However, with mystery surrounding the identity of the leak, Mr Farage has challenged Dame Alison over whether she was responsible.

The night before Mr Jack made the revelations he had been sitting next to the NatWest chief executive at a dinner.

Three days ago, Mr Jack revealed that he had changed the headline on his original story but stopped short of making an apology.

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Mr Farage Tweeted back his thanks for the apology.

He said: “My thanks to @BBCSimonJack for his apology.

“I have also received a letter of apology from the BBC News CEO, Deborah Turness.

“I am very grateful to both.”

In a video attached to the Tweet, he again hinted that he believes Dame Alison may have been responsible, promising to make revelations on his show at 7pm this evening.

Earlier he said: “I thank everyone who has supported me on this non-partisan issue of free speech.

“The role of banks is to provide banking services, not become a moral arbiter for the “accepted” view of the day.

“This campaign is not over. I will keep on fighting this.”

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