BBC veteran calls for journalist behind Nigel Farage bank story to apologise

Nigel Farage accuses Coutts of lying over bank closure

A former BBC newsreader has called on one of the corporation’s journalists to apologise to Nigel Farage over a story about his bank account being shut.

Nicholas Owen made the comment about a report by the BBC’s business editor Simon Jack that the ex-Ukip and Brexit Party leader had been cut off by Coutts because he did not meet the wealth threshold.

But it has since emerged that Mr Farage’s account was closed because his views did not “align” with the prestigious private bank, which is owned by NatWest.

The BBC journalist sat next to NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose the night before the article was published earlier this month.

Mr Owen told GB News: “Simon Jack is a jolly good journalist, jolly good at his job, and he sits next to a banker who gives him a line on the Nigel Farage story, well, of course, he’s going to go with that, it’s a jolly good source.

READ MORE: Farage writes letter to BBC demanding apology over ‘humiliating’ bank reporting

“But if that source turns out to be wrong, the facts are simply the other way round as Nigel himself has now discovered in great detail, then for goodness’ sake, just put your hands up. Simon, come on lad, just say ‘Sorry, got that wrong’.”

Mr Farage has written to the head of the Beeb demanding a formal apology over its reporting on the closure of his Coutts bank account.

In his letter to director-general Tim Davie, he said he had faced “humiliating” publicity due to the corporation’s article.

It cited a source as saying the move to close his account was a “commercial” decision rather than political reasons as he was claiming.

The BBC has since published an update to the original story by business editor Simon Jack, admitting it “turned out not to be accurate”.

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But Mr Farage is demanding that the corporation goes further and issues a formal apology.

In a letter to Mr Davie, he said: “Over the last few days, I have been put through a considerable and humiliating amount of publicity as a result of inaccurate BBC reporting.”

He said the BBC’s article was widely accepted as fact which prompted “many to say that my previous comments about being de-banked for political reasons were pure fantasy”.

Mr Farage said to counter the reporting he was forced to publish the subject access request he submitted to Coutts.

He added that the bombshell 40-page document “contained highly unpleasant and defamatory material about me” causing “further reputational damage in order to defend myself”.

He questioned how the original reporting met the corporation’s “supposedly high” editorial standards and blasted the move to amend the story as “too little too late”.

He referred to an apology he received from Dame Alison and former BBC journalist Jon Sopel, who shared the original story and said he must feel like “a bit of a Charlie”.

Mr Farage said: “I think that the very least that the BBC can do is to apologise to me, as Dame Alison Rose, Jon Sopel and others have done.”

A BBC spokesman said: “We confirm that we have received the letter, and we shall respond in due course.

“In the meantime, we have updated our corrections and clarifications website to reflect reporting on this story.”

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