What’s happened with Nigel Farage’s bank accounts
Nigel Farage’s bank account being closed has now led to a BBC apology and NatWest’s boss resigning.
How did we get here – and why was the account really closed?
Here’s how the controversy unfolded.
• Nigel Farage’s account is closed
At the end of June, Mr Farage said a bank – later confirmed as Coutts – had decided to stop doing business with him.
He said a letter from the bank contained no explanation and he had then been told over the phone it was a “commercial decision”.
In the six-minute video posted on Twitter, he said losing his bank account was the equivalent of being a “non person” and that the decision may “fundamentally affect [his] future career and whether [he] can even go on staying living here in this country”.
“The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts,” the caption read.
In a second Twitter video, he said he had been rejected from having bank accounts by nine different companies.
He said NatWest, the owner of Coutts, offered him an account after his announcement last week, but it was not suitable because it was a personal and not a business account.
MR Farage claimed banks did not want him as a customer due to him being a “politically exposed person“, or PEP.
A PEP is someone who holds or has held public office and therefore may be more susceptible to bribery or corruption.
• BBC claims Farage didn’t have enough money
On 4 July, a BBC report claimed the bank did not want his custom because he did not have enough money in his accounts.
The prestigious private bank requires clients to have at least £1m in investments or borrowing – including a mortgage – or £3m in savings.
The BBC reported that Mr Farage’s political opinions were not a factor in the decision.
But it turned out this wasn’t the case.
Pic: AP
• Coutts’ dossier on Farage
After Coutts first told him they were cutting ties, Mr Farage submitted a subject access request to them.
He then received a 40-page document detailing all of the evidence Coutts accumulated about him to feed back to its Wealth Reputational Risk Committee.
It revealed staff at the bank spent months compiling evidence on the “significant reputational risks of being associated with him”.
The main risks were:
- Reputational – as Mr Farage is “high profile” and “actively courts controversy”
- Financial crime – due to “alleged Russia connections”
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Farage: ‘I was shocked with the vitriol’
The document – reported on 18 July – suggested the move was taken partly because his views did not align with the firm’s “values”, including his position on LGBTQ+ rights and friendship with former US president Donald Trump.
Ultimately it concluded the Mr Farage’s views were “at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak commented on the issue, tweeting: “This is wrong. No one should be barred from using basic services for their political views. Free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy.”
Read more:
Minister summons bank bosses after Farage account closure
Nigel Farage on ‘vitriol’ in Coutts’ dossier
• The BBC apologises
On 24 July, the BBC issued an apology to Mr Farage over the story “which turned out not to be accurate”.
In a statement, the broadcaster said: “We acknowledge that the information we reported – that Coutts’ decision on Mr Farage’s account did not involve considerations about his political views – turned out not to be accurate and have apologised to Mr Farage.”
• NatWest boss resigns
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NatWest boss resigns over Farage row
NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose resigned on 26 July after admitting to being the source of an inaccurate story about Mr Farage’s bank account.
The resignation was expected in the wake of briefings by Downing Street that she had lost the confidence of the prime minister and chancellor.
It came after she apologised to Mr Farage for the “deeply inappropriate comments” made about him in documents prepared for the company’s wealth committee.
She said the remarks “did not reflect the view of the bank”, which has now offered him “alternative banking arrangements”.
• 10 banks turned down Farage after Coutts closure
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Farage: ’10 banks turned me down’
Speaking to Sky News after Dame Alison’s resignation, Mr Farage said 10 banks had turned him down after Coutts decided to close his account.
The former Brexit Party leader would not name the banks, but said: “I don’t want to take on the whole industry.”
“You can’t exist in the world without a bank account,” he said. “You effectively become a non-person.”
• What could happen next?
Banks face a Treasury clampdown in the wake of the row over Mr Farage’s account.
Lenders will be forced to give customers three months’ notice of account closures and to provide a full explanation of the reasons under reforms expected to be unveiled soon, Sky News understands.
Tory MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault at London’s Groucho Club.
The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two different women at the private members’ club, in Soho, in August 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
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Mr Spencer – who is the Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich – will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday 16 June.
A Conservative Party spokesman said Mr Spencer, 37, has been suspended by the Tories and had the whip withdrawn.
The Groucho Club in Soho, London. Pic: PA
The Metropolitan Police said he was charged after attending a voluntary interview at a London police station on 13 March this year.
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “Following a review of the evidence provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have authorised two counts of sexual assault against Patrick Spencer MP.
“The charges follow two alleged incidents involving two separate women at the Groucho Club in central London in August 2023.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that he has the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Mr Spencer was first elected to Parliament last year with a majority of 4,290.
It is understood he was asked not to attend the parliamentary estate by the Tory chief whip while police enquiries were ongoing.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party believes in integrity and high standards. We have taken immediate action.
“Patrick Spencer MP has been suspended from the Conservative Party, and the whip withdrawn, with immediate effect.
“The Conservative Party cannot comment further on an ongoing legal case.”
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The Groucho Club, in Dean Street, opened in 1985 and became a renowned meeting place for A-list celebrities and others, including actors, comedians and media executives.
The club was named after the comedian and actor Groucho Marx, who reportedly once said he would refuse to join any club that would have him as a member.
It was originally set up as a more relaxed alternative to traditional gentlemen’s clubs, according to the venue’s website, which adds that members should be in the creative industry “and share the club’s maverick spirit”.
Before becoming an MP, Mr Spencer worked in finance for private equity firm IPGL, a company chaired by his father, former Conservative Party treasurer Lord Michael Spencer.
He later took a job at the Centre for Social Justice think thank before becoming a senior adviser at the Department for Education.
He made his maiden speech in the Commons in July last year during a debate on the MPs’ code of conduct relating to second jobs, during which he said the “most important thing to the people across my constituency” was “restoring a sense of moral probity and public spiritedness to our political system”.
Sky News has contacted Mr Spencer for comment.
GD Culture Group (GDC), a Nasdaq-listed holding company focused on livestreaming, e-commerce and artificial intelligence-powered digital human technology, plans to raise up to $300 million for a cryptocurrency treasury reserve.
In a May 12 statement, GDC and its subsidiary, AI Catalysis, announced entering into a common stock purchase agreement with a British Virgin Islands limited liability company to sell up to $300 million of its common stock.
The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to fund the firm’s crypto treasury, which will include purchases of Bitcoin (BTC) and the Official Trump (TRUMP) token.
“Under this initiative, and subject to certain limitations, GDC intends to allocate a significant portion of the proceeds from any share sales under the facility to the acquisition, long-term holding, and integration of crypto assets into its core treasury operations,” the company said in the announcement.
GDC described the strategy as a move to align with the broader “decentralization transformation.”
Founded in 2016, GDC is a micro-cap company with a current $34 million market capitalization, according to Nasdaq data.
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GDC’s chairman and CEO, Xiaojian Wang, said the initiative builds on the company’s strengths in digital technologies and positions it for a blockchain-powered industrial shift.
“GDC’s adoption of crypto assets as treasury reserve holdings is a deliberate strategy that reflects both current industry trends and our unique strengths in digital technologies and the livestreaming e-commerce ecosystem,” Wang said.
The stock offering was announced over a month after the firm received a noncompliance warning from Nasdaq related to its stockholders’ equity. The notice indicated that the firm reported stockholders’ equity of only $2,643, well below the minimum requirement of $2.5 million.
The firm was given until May 4 to submit a plan to comply with the listing requirements. If accepted by Nasdaq, the compliance plan will allow up to 180 days from the notification period to comply with the requirements.
The Nevada-based company joins a small but growing group of public firms that are allocating part of their balance sheets to crypto assets.
Related: Crypto speculation dominates $600B cross-border payments: BIS report
Trump token dinner planned for top holders
GDC’s announcement coincides with an upcoming high-profile event tied to the Trump token project. The 25 largest holders of TRUMP tokens are set to attend a private dinner at the White House on May 22.
However, the TRUMP memecoin project said in a May 12 X post that it has stopped considering additional purchases for the dinner and that the attendees had been notified to apply for background checks.
According to data provided on the project’s leaderboard, the top 220 wallets held more than 13.7 million tokens as of May 12, worth about $174 million at the time of publication.
Some US lawmakers have criticized the dinner. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reportedly said that the idea of the US president offering exclusive access for people willing to pay “gives [her] pause.”
Crypto regulation experts also fear that the Trump family’s crypto endeavors may trigger more regulatory scrutiny by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as politically affiliated memecoins introduce a new challenge for crypto legislation.
Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express
A 21-year-old man has been arrested over a series of arson attacks, police have said, after a fire at a house owned by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The suspect was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He remains in custody.
Emergency services were called to fires at the doors of two homes in north London within 24 hours of each other – one just after 1.35am on Monday in Kentish Town and the other on Sunday in Islington. Both properties are linked to Sir Keir.
Police are investigating links to several fires, which they are treating as suspicious. Pic: LNP
Detectives were also checking a vehicle fire last Thursday on the same street as the Kentish Town property to see whether it is connected.
Part of the area was cordoned off as police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) investigators examined the scene.
Neighbours described hearing a loud bang and said police officers were looking for a projectile.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene in Kentish Town, north London, on Monday. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The prime minister is understood to still own the home, which was damaged by fire on Monday, but nobody was hurt. Pictures showed scorching at the entrance to the property.
Sir Keir used to live there before he and his family moved into 10 Downing Street after Labour won last year’s general election. It is believed the property is being rented out.
In the early hours of Sunday, firefighters dealt with a small fire at the front door of a house converted into flats in nearby Islington, which is also linked to the prime minister.
Counter-terror police are leading the investigation. Pic: LNP
In a statement, police said: “As a precaution and due to the property having previous connections with a high-profile public figure, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are leading the investigation into this fire.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish what caused it. All three fires are being treated as suspicious at this time, and enquiries remain ongoing.”
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The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can only say that the prime minister thanks the emergency services for their work and it is subject to a live investigation. So I can’t comment any further.”
Kemi Badenoch has condemned the suspected arson attacks.
Writing on X, the Conservative leader said: “This is a shocking incident. My thoughts are with the prime minister and his family. No one should face these sorts of threats, let alone people in public service.
“It’s an attack on our democracy and must never be tolerated.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News on Tuesday: “It’s important that the prime minister and anyone in public life has their family, their homes, protected.
“It is absolutely wrong, disgraceful, for any individual to take the kind of action that we saw against the prime minister’s home.”
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