> Farage says he was effectively "de-banked" for his political views and that he is "far from alone" Contrary to the BBC's portrayal, this is not an unsupporte

> Farage says he was effectively "de-banked" for his political views and that he is "far from alone" Contrary to the BBC's portrayal, this is not an unsupported opinion coming from Farage - he is citing what the bank itself wrote in their internal discussions on this matter, that he obtained through a subject access request. In their apology for getting the story wrong, the BBC writes: "On 4 July, the BBC reported Mr Farage no longer met the financial requirements for Coutts, citing a source familiar with the matter. The former UKIP leader later obtained a Coutts report which indicated his political views were also considered." - https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66288464 https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66288464 This is misleading past the point of deceit. The BBC tries to give the impression that financial requirements were the primary reason for the account closure, and his politics were just an at-best secondary "also". But the Coutts report explicitly said that he “meets the EC [economic contribution] criteria for commercial retention”, so his politics were the primary and only reason - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/18/nigel-farage-coutts-bank-account-closed-align-with-values/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/18/nigel-farage-cou... If you can ignore Farage's hyperbole (I wouldn't describe collecting information posted willingly to public social media as "Stasi-style" surveillance), he lists the reasons Coutts used to close his account, which include friendship with Novak Djokovic, and re-Tweeting an allegedly transphobic joke by Ricky Gervais ("old fashioned women. You know, the ones with wombs."): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/18/nigel-farage-coutts-uk-bank-accounts/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/18/nigel-farage-cou... Most of this information is absent in the BBC's reporting, which uses only vague, anodyne phrases like "political views" and "politically exposed person", avoids specifics, but does find time to cite Labour MP accusations that it is hypocritical how quickly the government reacted to banks trying to financially deplatform the enemy political faction, when the government hasn't yet rid itself of corruption.