Key points from Coutts' dossier on Nigel Farage

The reasons behind the decision to close Nigel Farage's account have been revealed in a lengthy extract of notes from his bank.

After Coutts first told him they were cutting ties earlier this month, Mr Farage submitted a subject access request to them.

The 40-page document published by him reveals staff at the bank, whose clients include members of the Royal Family, spent months compiling evidence on the "significant reputational risks of being associated with him".

Ultimately it concludes the former Brexit Party leader's views are "at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation".

Alison Rose, chief executive officer of Coutts' owner NatWest, has since resigned after admitting to being the source of an inaccurate story about Mr Farage's bank account.

Her four-year tenure as chief executive has ended in ignominy over her admission that she had discussed Mr Farage's bank details with a BBC journalist.

Mr Farage has said the resignation of Dame Alison is a "start" but the "whole board needs to go".

Prior to this, Ms Rose had written to Mr Farage to apologise for the "deeply inappropriate comments", which she claims "did not reflect the view of the bank".

The decision

Minutes from a meeting of the Coutts Wealth Reputational Risk Committee on 17 November 2022 reveal Mr Farage had personal and business accounts, as well as a mortgage.

It states at that point he "met the economic contribution (EC) criteria for commercial retention", which requires all Coutts customers to have at least £1m in investments or borrowing or £3m in savings.

The notes also reveal he was a "lower risk PEP (politically exposed person)" - a status conferred to people in high-ranking public roles that make them more susceptible to bribery, which allows banks to terminate their business if the risk is deemed too high.

Coutts was planning to "declassify him as a PEP on the next review", however, as he is "no longer associated with any political party", having stopped being Brexit Party leader in 2021.

But after his mortgage expired in July 2023 the bank decided it "did not have the appetite to renew his mortgage or provide banking facilities".

As part of an "exit plan" they would monitor him until the expiry but if there was a "flash point" of further controversy an "earlier exit" would be considered.

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An update from 10 March this year states: "The relationship has been below commercial criteria for some time and upon review of Nigel's past public profile and connections, the perceived risks for the future weighed against the benefit of retention the decision was taken to exit upon repayment of an existing mortgage."

The main risks were:

• Reputational - as Mr Farage is "high profile" and "actively courts controversy";
• Financial crime - due to "alleged Russia connections";

It adds that continuing to do business with him was "not compatible with Coutts given his publicly-stated views" and the decision was "not political… but centred around inclusivity and purpose".

They note, however, that he has always been "professional, polite and respectful".

'Xenophobic and racist'

Throughout the 40 pages of personal data about him, there are references to news articles, media appearances, his tweets and Wikipedia page.

The notes say: "It's clear to me that NF has - and projects - xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views, even though this is done within the law, or framed with sufficient ambiguity to claim malicious misquoting by his critics.

"At best he is seen as xenophobic and pandering to racists, and at worst, he is seen as xenophobic and racist."

Mr Farage has described it as a "prejudiced, nasty document", adding that he was "shocked with the vitriol that was within it".

It refers to criticism of his August 2020 description of migrant boat arrivals as a "shocking invasion on the Kent coast".

The notes also mention his decision to film migrants as they arrived in dinghies via the English Channel in July 2021, which he posted on social media.

In it Mr Farage says: "They've got a lovely day. If the weather was to puff up, that'd be the end of that lot."

His tweets from September last year about violence in Leicester are also mentioned. In them he blames "lawmakers who promoted multiculturalism and diversity" and says: "Our politicians have done this to our great country".

Separately they cite his links to the Leave.EU unofficial Brexit campaign, which "relentlessly sought to link immigrants and Muslims to violence and societal decline".

Comparing Black Lives Matter to Taliban

The bank's committee refers to an appearance on Good Morning Britain in June 2020, which was cut short after he compared the pulling down of the Edward Colston statue by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol to Islamic extremists.

He had previously tweeted about it: "A new form of the Taliban was born in the UK today. Unless we get moral leadership quickly our cities won't be worth living in."

A separate tweet described Black Lives Matter as a "far-left Marxist organisation whose chief aim is to de-fund and close down police forces."

'Well-known admirer of Enoch Powell"

Specifically, the bank notes that "Farage is a well-known admirer of Enoch Powell".

Powell's Rivers Of Blood speech in 1968 heavily criticised mass immigration and opposed the Race Relations Bill.

The notes state that Mr Farage "asked Powell for his support in a by-election in 1994" and also "drove him to a UKIP rally in 1993".

Writing afterwards, he wrote: "That meeting, with a man who had achieved so much and sacrificed so much for his principles, awoke all sorts of aspirations in me which I had not even acknowledged before. It inspired me."

In 2008 he said that: "While his language may seem out of date now, his principles remain good and true."

Hitler Youth songs

An article from the Independent in May 2019 features an interview with one of Mr Farage's former school friends, in which he claims the former MEP was "proud that his initials NF also stood for National Front".

It also said he held "publicly professed racist and fascist views" and that he "once marched through a Sussex village singing Hitler Youth songs".

There was also reference to him singing "gas 'em all, gas 'em all" - a neo-Nazi song.

Antisemitic tropes

There are also references to antisemitism.

A Guardian article from last year highlights criticism of Mr Farage's description of Tory minister Grant Shapps as a "globalist".

When Mr Shapps replaced now-Home Secretary Suella Braverman, he described it as a "coup" of "globalists taking over Liz Truss's government".

The article notes the term globalist has "associations with antisemitism and the far right".

It adds: "Farage has been criticised several times before for using this and similar tropes associated with antisemitism, such as references to Goldman Sachs and the financier George Soros" - who is also Jewish.

Women 'worth far less' than men

There are repeated references to his "chauvinistic" views.

In 2010 when asked about women's football he replied: "Here's the bigger question. Do we think, chaps, when we're there in the frontline, when the balloon goes up, with fixed bayonets, when the whistle's about to blow to go over the top, do we actually want to be there with women beside us? Do we? What an extraordinarily bizarre idea! I certainly don't think so."

He added: "But maybe it's because I've got so many women pregnant over the years that I have a different view. I find it very difficult to think that we could stand up and run over the top together into the machine guns or whatever. Men and women are different - thank God!"

The notes also refer to a Q&A he took part in on the EU in January 2014, when he said the gender pay gap is not a form of discrimination against women.

He said they are paid less because they are "simply worth far less than many of their male counterparts".

A tweet from June 2022 is also mentioned that says the prime minster was becoming "more ridiculous by the minute" for saying "we need more women in power".

Against same-sex marriage

Among the other views "at odds" with Coutts are those on the LGBT community.

The committee notes refer to an LBC interview on 2014 when Mr Farage said he "does not support the idea of same-sex marriages".

And in 2019 it notes that he defended Ann Widdecombe's comments that gay conversion therapy may "produce an answer" to homosexuality".

'Useful idiot' for Russia

One of the key "risks" around Mr Farage identified by the bank are his links to Russia.

The notes claim he has "regularly been seen to be pro-Russia/pro-Putin" and that "even following the invasion, he did not criticise Putin but instead blamed the EU and NATO".

Ultimately it concludes it "cannot find any evidence of direct Russian regime connection".

But it lists several examples that merited investigation.

Initially Labour MP Chris Bryant's claims in the House of Commons that he received £548,573 from Russia Today in 2018 were looked into. But it says that they don't "appear to be correct" as he just got "two small appearance fees" from RT in 2016 and 2017.

Mr Farage, however, has been "labelled a 'useful idiot' for Russian influence in the UK".

On LBC Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt said that during his time as an MEP - from 1999 until Brexit - Mr Farage was "all the time defending Putin".

The notes also refer to some of his tweets just before the Ukraine invasion.

On 25 February last year he wrote: "If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don't be surprised when he reacts."

After the invasion in March he questioned the sanctioning of Russian oligarchs.

"And yet, is it right to effectively seize people's assets without any form... any sense of due process. And will it really turn Russians against Vladimir Putin? I am concerned about the way in which this is being done," he tweeted.

Calls for Trump peace prize

As well as Vladimir Putin, the bank also notes Mr Farage's support of Donald Trump.

It refers to him "defending Trump's 'grab them by the p****' remarks as "locker room banter" and noting he was not "running to be Pope".

In 2018 he also called for Trump to get the Nobel Peace Prize for trying to improve relations between North Korea and South Korea.

And when his party won no seats at the 2019 election, he said he wanted to move to the US to be a warm-up speaker on the 2020 Trump campaign.

Meeting Djokovic

The committee cites an Independent article from January 2022 - when tennis player Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia and the US Open over his COVID vaccination status.

Mr Farage got to meet the star after tweeting support for him.

"A huge win for [Djokovic] this morning. If the Australian government fight[s] this they will look dreadful," he said.

He also wrote that the debate was "no longer about health - it's about state control".

The article describes his comments as "the spineless, chaotic behaviour of a chancer".

Ricky Gervais transphobic sketch 'brilliant'

In another example of views that are "out of touch with society", the bank points to Mr Farage's retweet of Laurence Fox from May last year.

Mr Fox shared a video of comedian Ricky Gervais's Netflix special, which was widely condemned as anti-LGBT and transphobic, with the caption: "This is brilliant".

'Net zero is stupid'

The bank also accuses him of being a "climate denier".

A Guardian article from March 2022 refers to his venture Britain Means Business and its campaign Vote Power Not Poverty, which called for a referendum on the government's green targets.

He also said "Net zero is stupid" and called for supporters to "kill off Boris's green agenda".

'Stupid' King Charles

Coutts is famed for being the bank of choice for many of the Royal Family.

The committee notes on Nigel Farage include his 2022 comments on King Charles.

He said he had "always been a Charles sceptic but even I didn't know he was that stupid" after reports he had welcomed Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani into his private residence.

The King accepted a suitcase full of money from the Qatari leader as a charitable donation to his foundation The Prince's Trust, it was claimed at the time.

False Brexit claims

Under the header 'false Brexit claims', the bank cites an Independent article on Mr Farage's and his fellow Brexit campaigners' claims that leaving the EU would mean £350m a week for the NHS.

"On the day of the election result he suddenly changed his tone," the article says, "saying he couldn't guarantee the cash and that to pledge to do so was a 'a mistake'."

There is also reference to inflammatory comments he made about winning the 2016 vote.

He said "we will have done it without a single bullet fired" days after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist.

Farage response

Mr Farage said the notes made about him are "clearly a case of discrimination".

He said: "All of my views are legal. All of my views actually are majority views in the country. It is wrong that banks can just close people down and not give any reasons why that is."

After receiving his apology letter from Ms Rose, he described it as a "start", but called for an inquiry into the matter. Ms Rose said a "full review" of Coutts processes would accompany the Treasury's changes that require banks to give customers 90 days and a full explanation before closing any accounts.

Sky News has approached Mr Farage for further comment.