Tory MPs pile pressure on Jeremy Hunt to fire bank chairman in Nigel Farage row

Jeremy Hunt is under pressure to force out the banking boss at the heart of the NatWest scandal which saw Coutts, one of its subsidiaries, close the accounts of Nigel Farage over his political views. Earlier today NatWest chairman Sir Howard Davies refused to quit his lucrative post despite his decision to stand by former chief executive Dame Alison Rose after she had admitted leaking confidential financial details about Mr Farage to the BBC . Sir Howard had led the board into saying thy had “full confidence” in Rose before she was eventually forced to quit. But there are also concerns over his role in taking the bank in the “woke direction” which led to Mr Farage and others having their accounts removed. Sir Howard claimed that he was staying on “at the behest of the shareholders” with the Treasury on behalf of the taxpayer the biggest owner of NatWest stock at 39 percent. Sir Howard Davies has refused to quit (Image: Getty) Senior Conservative MPs pointed out that as the bank’s largest shareholder the Chancellor should be calling for Sir Howard to go or at the very least make “a full account fo himself”. Former cabinet minister David Jones said: “Jeremy Hunt will probably be reluctant to force Davies to resign. “But as the company’s major shareholder the Government should certainly be asking the entire board including HD to give an account of their actions.” Former Business Secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg was more forthright insisting that the much criticised bank boss had made a big mistake and misunderstood the gravity of the situation. He said: “I am afraid that Sir Howard’s defence of Dame Alison shows that he simply doesn’t understand the seriousness of NatWest’s failings.” Sir Jacob thinks it is time for Sir Howard to resign (Image: Getty) He went on: “Dame Alison didn’t have to go because of politics but because she broke the bankers’ code by revealing confidential client information and set up a ‘diversity’ regime that ended up purging profitable customers because of their lawful views. “This is clearly against the interests of shareholders and the directors’ fiduciary duty. Now he too ought to add another resignation to his rather long list.” But a source close to the Chancellor insisted that they would not push for Davies to go despite the growing calls for him to be fired. The Treasury pointed out that the NatWest chairman is due to leave next year anyway and that the search had already begun for a replacement. The source said: “We want orderly transition to fresh leadership.” In an earlier statement, City minister Andrew Griffith said: “The chairman of NatWest is already stepping down. There’s already a search underway, as you know, for his replacement. “We should let that continue and then in due course, obviously, the bank will need to appoint a new chief executive. It is important that lessons are learned. “It’s not the duty of banks to tell us what to think and what political views we can have. “My view is we have a wonderful financial sector in the UK, but what it should do is be focused on delivering the best job it can for customers and doing that well and doing that fairly.” The Treasury also insisted that it did not have direct oversight of what was going on at NatWest despite being the biggest shareholder on behalf of the taxpayer. This meant that key strategic decisions have not been coming across ministers’ desks. The source said: “The shareholding is managed at arm’s length and on a commercial basis by UK Government Investments (UKGI) – they manage the shareholding, not the bank itself. Griffith is responsible for banking more widely.”