Coutts bank wrong on Nigel Farage

The notion that any bank anywhere would, with a flourish of mindless wokery, take it upon itself to cancel a customer’s account because it disagrees with his political views is so far-fetched and Orwellian as to make it difficult to comprehend. When that bank is no less than that most venerable and exclusive of British financial institutions, Coutts & Co, which for 331 years has been the bank of choice for the good and the great of Britain and many others around the world – including every member of the royal family now headed by King Charles – that is even more the case. Not without good reason is Coutts the only bank allowed a cash machine in Buckingham Palace and able to boast a clientele that has ranged from Lord Byron, Frederic Chopin, the Duke of Wellington, Charles Dickens and Lord Nelson to the Beatles.

Since its foundation in 1692, its reputation for probity has been almost entirely unblemished. Would-be customers are currently required to invest or borrow a minimum of £1m ($1.9m) or save £3m ($5.7m) with the bank to be granted the privilege of holding an account. That reputation is under serious threat, however, following the startling disclosure that Coutts, with all the zeal of a deranged political censor, has summarily closed the account of controversial arch Brexiteer and Donald Trump admirer Nigel Farage – and not just because, as he concedes, his finances had fallen below the Coutts financial threshold.

Instead, documents the bank has been forced to disclose reveal, as The Times reported, that Mr Farage’s prized account was closed after the bank’s bosses, adopting the role of full-blown political censors, concluded that his views were those of a “disingenuous grifter” and someone who was “xenophobic and racist”.

There is no doubt that Mr Farage has been, and remains, a controversial figure in British politics. Many would disagree profoundly with his views. But many, too, would agree with them and it is an outrage that a bank – any bank – should make the political views of any legitimate customer a condition of being allowed to hold an account. The action taken to cancel Mr Farage reeks of political correctness gone completely mad. Coutts’s action raises serious issues for banks, and bank customers, everywhere. The cancel culture that led to what is clearly a nonsensical series of decisions by Coutts must itself be cancelled.