Woke has grown like a cancer at heart of Britain

Coutts took a dislike to Nigel Farage says Ben Habib (Image: Getty) It would be a huge error to think Coutts’ cancellation of Nigel Farage was a one-off. It would be equally wrong to think the problem only infects banks. Prejudice through the institutionalisation of woke, has embedded itself in every part of our economy and lives. We are culturally and materially much the poorer for it. Coutts took a dislike to Nigel and the system encouraged it to do so. Its actions had real life consequences for him, as they have done for all the other account holders and businesses cancelled. Their sort of behaviour is more impetuous, vindictive and immature than that of a playground bully. They nearly got away with it too. Even after their scorn was published, they would have been able to brazen it out but for Dame Alison Rose breaking her duty of confidentiality and briefing the BBC against Nigel. The real question here is how a bastion of British business, one of our renowned private banks, famous for its professionalism, could have been allowed to act like this? The answer, because the system is not there to police such behaviour – it encourages it Indeed, the regulations demand it. The regulatory culprit goes by the name of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (‘ESG’). It is the policy mechanism by which governments across the developed World are requiring public bodies, institutions and businesses to drive towards Net Zero and eliminate what they call ‘social injustice’. ESG has now firmly taken its place alongside the traditional drivers of the economy, and in many cases trumped them, including the vitally important profit motive. The UK’s ESG regime consists of domestic and EU-derived laws and regulations. The sources of legislation are manifold. To name a few, directors’ duties in the Companies Act 2006, the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018, the UK Stewardship Code 2020, Stock Exchange Listing Rules, the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, the Climate Change Act 2008 and the Bribery Act and many more….. All regulated entities, banks being but one, are required to adopt and report on ESG. Crucially, they are also required to ensure that those entities with which they trade similarly adopt such principles. Bank closed Nigel Farage’s accounts (Image: Getty) So, through this web of laws, regulations and knock on obligations, ESG has been spread into every nook and cranny of the economy. It is disastrous. In the pursuit of being seen to combat social injustice, businesses have wrapped themselves in cloaks of false virtue. They have centred their efforts in this respect on what is called ‘diversity and inclusion’. They are promoting people from different ethnic minorities, religious backgrounds and sexual preferences even if doing so would be to the detriment of their organisations and the exclusion of the ethnic majority. It is nothing short of an economically damaging form of reverse racism, which is still racism, and reverse sexual prejudice, which is still sexual prejudice. Executive pay is often linked to the delivery of arbitrary non-monetary ESG goals. According to the Institute of Chartered Accounts for England and Wales, 85 percent of listed businesses have tied executives’ short-term pay packages to at least one ESG measure. It is quite possible/probable, the directors at Coutts were literally being paid to discriminate against Nigel. Many businesses have become ESG zealots, favouring its promotion over fulfilling their raison d’etre and the making of money. With such an attitude, it is not surprising the cost of living in the UK is so high and we are struggling to control inflation. Our businesses are no longer programmed to deliver cost-effective good products but to promote this new prejudiced ideology. This is an extreme form of socialism. There are absurd examples of the extremes to which some will go to burnish their credentials. Grind, a coffee maker, pulled all its advertising from GB News, which is itself a perfectly legitimate regulated business, after Grind was accused of funding hate. Lush, a soap maker, has declared all immigrants to the UK are welcome even those that arrive illegally, apparently encouraging the breaking of the law. Oxfam, no doubt in order to curry favour with its donors, published a 92-page inclusivity guide labelling English as the language of a colonising nation. The list is endless. ESG is institutionalising racism and sexual prejudice. It is supported in doing so by laws and regulations. it is promoted by government and regulators. It will not entertain criticism. The cultural and economic damage being done is vast.