In one fell swoop, Coutts has risked its 330-year-old reputation

Coutts & Co AG bank headquarters (Image: Getty) A committee set up by Coutts Bank to handle ‘reputational risk’ has itself risked the bank’s 330-year-old reputation. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. This pompous committee of virtue-signalling, politically correct lefties carried out a political witch-hunt against one of its customers and, unfortunately for them, it has backfired badly. What on earth were they thinking about when they decided to close Nigel Farage’s account because his values didn’t align with theirs? What are the values of a bank beyond looking after its customers? Why has it become a pseudo-political party masquerading as a bank? Coutts’ behaviour has been so outrageous that emergency legislation is now being drawn up by the Government – a new ‘free speech duty’ on banks as a condition of their licence to operate in the UK. The change would mean that a bank found to have discriminated against a customer because of their (perfectly legal) political views can have its licence revoked. The decision to close Farage’s account was terrible, but the way the bank handled the whole affair was even worse. First of all, by briefing the BBC that the reason for the account closure was due to insufficient funds – a shocking breach of customer confidentiality and a lie. And then the ridiculous letter of apology from the hapless chief executive of NatWest, Dame Alison Rose, who absurdly claimed that the decision to close Farage’s account because his political views were extreme was not actually the view of the bank. Of course it was the view of the bank… his account was closed and the leaked documents made clear this was because they considered his political views too extreme. As Farage has himself made clear, this is not just about him. This is happening to tens of thousands of people across the country and we also saw PayPal close down the accounts of UsForThem, the parents’ group that fought to keep schools open during the pandemic, and The Free Speech Union set up by Toby Young. These accounts were reinstated after a backlash by many MPs, including me. Nigel Farage (Image: Getty) We cannot have banks acting as the thought police. Nigel Farage does not emerge from this saga looking bad…far from it. This has been a Ratner-esque reputational disaster for NatWest and Coutts. It has also been a personal disaster for Dame Alison Rose. If she hasn’t the decency to resign then she should be sacked. Wednesday was the last PMQs before summer recess and watching from the gallery were some American friends of ours. They couldn’t believe how fiery and fast-paced the questions were. They also said it is lucky for Biden they don’t have this in the US. Sleepy Joe would be finished – he can barely read an autocue. NHS strikes (Image: Getty) Have you wondered why consultants on £100k to £125k are really on strike despite being offered a six per cent pay rise? Anyone earning more than £100,000 is subject to a 60 per cent marginal rate of tax on their income up to £125,140. Maybe getting rid of this unacceptable tax burden anomaly would be the best way of ending the NHS consultant strikes. I Should Be So Lucky, the musical about the lives and times of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, is coming to a theatre near you. Kylie will be appearing in digital form. Pete Waterman told me the story about the time that they had agreed to write a song for Kylie, then promptly forgot until she arrived at the studio and the receptionist called to say she was downstairs, waiting for her song. Pete’s face went ashen, saying ‘she will be so lucky’. They wrote it in minutes and the rest is history! The musical will kick-off in Manchester – I’ll be there.