Nigel Farage has accepted the BBC’s apology for inaccurately reporting that his Coutts bank account was closed due to falling below its ‘wealth limit’.
Mr Farage, 59, said he was ‘delighted’ to get the ‘rare’ apology but the ‘finger’ was now pointed at Coutts and the NatWest banking group as to who gave the information to the BBC.
It comes after the former Ukip leader submitted a data access request to the bank which revealed a 36-page document suggesting his accounts were closed due to his views being at odds with ‘inclusivity’.
After receiving an apology from the BBC’s Business Editor Simon Jack and BBC News’s CEO Deborah Turness, he told his GB News show: ‘Well, BBC apologies are very very rare. They only happen once every few years.
‘But today I got that apology. It made very very clear that the information turned out to be inaccurate.
‘Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Simon Jack, thank you Deborah Turness. I know some will say it took too long, but thank you.
‘A fullsome apology from the BBC is not something that happens very often. I’m delighted to get it.’
However, Mr Farage vowed to ‘find out the absolute truth’ and questioned who at either Coutts or Natwest told the BBC his bank accounts were closed for commercial reasons.
He said: ‘How can it be right? And it doesn’t matter if it’s me, or anybody else, how can it be right that my banking status and the amount of money I may or may not have in my personal and business accounts are being discussed with the business editor of the BBC, and then disseminated to the wider world.
‘How can that be right? How can that be ethical? How can that be legal? How can that be moral? I want to find out the truth and I’m bloomin’ well going to find out the truth.’
He added he had put in another data access request to NatWest to see what what they ‘held’ about him.
Read More: ‘An apology is not something the BBC often gives, I’m delighted to get it’
