The boss of Natwest has admitted she was the source for a controversial BBC story about Nigel Farage’s bank account – but will keep her job.
Dame Alison Rose apologised to the former Ukip leader and her colleagues, saying she had “made a serious error of judgment” in discussing his affairs.
In her statement, Dame Alison said she did not “reveal any personal financial information” about Mr Farage.
But “believing it was public knowledge” she said she had confirmed that he was a customer of Coutts, which is part of the Natwest group, and had been offered a Natwest bank account.
“Alongside this, I repeated what Mr Farage had already stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision,” she said. “In response to a general question about eligibility criteria” she said guidance was available online, adding: “In doing so, I recognise that I left (the BBC’s Simon) Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one.”
But, Dame Alison will stay in her position after the chairman of the board said it retained full confidence in her as CEO.
However, Howard Davies added that recent events “will be taken into account in decisions on remuneration.”
It is the second apology that Mr Farage has received from the bank is as many weeks.
Dame Alison had already written to Mr Farage about “deeply inappropriate comments” made about him in a dossier by Coutts that she insisted did “not reflect the view of the bank”.
It came after the arch-Brexiteer said his bank account was unfairly shut down because it did not agree with his political views.
In her statement, Dame Alison insisted that decision “was made by Coutts” and that she had been informed in April “that this was for commercial reasons”, a move that will increase pressure on Coutts boss Peter Flavel.
The Independent reported last week that insiders say Dame Alison was kept in the dark about what was going on and that Mr Flavel did not do enough to keep her fully updated.
In the dossier the bank reportedly cited Mr Farage’s retweet of a joke by comedian Ricky Gervais about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic, who has objections to Covid vaccinations, to flag concerns that he is “xenophobic and racist”.
It also repeated previous press reports, stemming from an old school friend, that a teenage Farage sang “gas ’em all, gas ’em all”, about Jewish people, as well as claims reported in the press from a former teacher that Mr Farage “once marched through a Sussex village singing Hitler Youth songs”. Mr Farage has denied both allegations.