Say what you like about Nigel Farage – and Hugh Muir certainly has (Pity Nigel Farage as he is deemed too horrible to bank with the elite at Coutts, 19 July) – but his cancellation by Coutts is nothing to do with victimisation. It’s about hypocrisy.
Coutts claims to be “an inclusive organisation” but its raison d’etre is exclusivity. Like many corporations and financial institutions, Coutts is virtue-signalling in a bid to keep the masses onside while doing business as usual to promote capitalism and concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the privileged few.
Farage’s views are distasteful to many people but, as Coutts admits, he has not broken any laws. Are we expected to believe that every one of the millionaire customers who have passed the Coutts reputational risk committee’s sniff test is squeaky clean and espouses the appropriate political views? Or are they not as visible as Farage?
David Taylor
Swimbridge, Devon
• Now that Mr Farage is taking on the “injustices” of the banking world, perhaps he could help all of us British living in Europe who have had our UK bank accounts closed thanks to Brexit.
Personally, the closure of our Barclays account that we had held since 1989 has caused real problems with accessing pensions and funds. It would have been nice to see that on the front page of the Daily Mail and Telegraph.
Jacqueline Fisher
Martizay, France
• I was pleased to read that “ministers are considering legislation to protect free speech by threatening banks with losing their licences if they blacklist people with controversial views” (Nigel Farage praises ‘swift’ intervention by ministers over closed Coutts account, 20 July).
This stands in sharp contrast to the reaction in 2015 when the Co-operative Bank closed numerous accounts, including those of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and charities involved with supporting women’s education in Gaza. A letter in the Guardian (10 December 2015) highlighted the issue, pointing out that the bank also closed the Cuba Solidarity Campaign’s account. I somehow doubt that protecting organisations such as these is part of the government’s agenda.
Declan O’Neill
Oldham
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