Farage blasts 'woke' bank which allowed Rose West to keep account

EXCLUSIVE – ‘If I’m the villain and Rose West is the good girl then something is very wrong here’: Nigel Farage blasts ‘woke’ bank which allowed serial killer to KEEP her account – after HIS was closed because of his political views

• EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage said it was ‘extraordinary’ that his Coutts bank account was closed, while serial killer Rose West’s Co-operative account stayed open 
• Co-op concluded keeping her account open would not harm bank’s reputation

Nigel Farage has blasted a ‘woke’ bank which allowed serial killer Rose West to keep her account after his was controversially closed because of his political views.

The Co-operative Bank, which prides itself on being ‘ethical’, is facing questions after it emerged that West’s account was not closed during a review of customers with criminal records in 2014, while drug dealers and gang members were axed.

The murderer of 10 women and girls, who will spend the rest of her life behind bars, was kept as a customer despite the bank refusing a feminist group over trans issues, while other banks have closed accounts over political views such as Mr Farage’s. 

The former Ukip politician has been at the centre of a de-banking row after Coutts, the private bank run by NatWest, shut his account as it felt it did not align with his political ‘values’. The bank compiled a 40-page dossier on the ‘significant reputational risks of being associated with him’.

Today, after hearing that a serial killer had her account kept open while his own was closed, Mr Farage told MailOnline: ‘It is quite extraordinary. If I’m the villain and Rose West is the good girl then something is very wrong here.’

Mr Farage, who is now a television presenter, added: ‘It just shows what nonsense this whole woke corporatism running through banks and businesses is. It is blatantly and overtly political.’

His comments came after The Telegraph revealed that the Co-op thought keeping West as a customer had little risk to the bank’s reputation. It was reported that the main risk of letting the killer keep her account was the public finding out she was a customer.

Nigel Farage (pictured at US presidency debates yesterday) has blasted a ‘woke’ bank which allowed serial killer Rose West to keep her account after his was controversially closed because of his political views

It’s been revealed that the Co-operative Bank kept West’s account open because it did not think that it would harm their reputation. Pictured: Killer Rose West

Mr Farage handed a 40-page dossier to MailOnline after his account was closed by Coutts last month

An insider also told the newspaper that the bank, whose slogan is ‘Ethical then, now and always’, reviewed accounts belonging to criminals around a decade ago in a ‘clean up’. But it concluded that closing West’s account would create problems for her daughter, the main user.

Mr Farage joked that ‘Rose West probably meets the bank ESG credentials better than I do’, adding: ‘Mass murderers are fine but anyone that questions Net Zero policies are baddies. It sums the whole thing up.’

READ MORE: Row erupts as NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose who quit in disgrace over the Nigel Farage banking scandal is in line for a £2.4 million payout as she spends a year on gardening leave 

It’s understood that the Co-op Bank reviewed its customers after it found itself in a major scandal when former chairman Paul Flowers, a Methodist minister, was filmed buying and using illicit drugs including crack cocaine and crystal meth.

West and husband Fred, abducted, tortured and raped innocent women over a 20 year period at their house in Cromwell Street, Gloucestershire, where they resided from 1972 until their arrests in 1994. 

The pair even killed their eldest daughter Heather in June 1987. Fred, who confessed the killings, committed suicide in his cell while on remand at HMP Birmingham on New Year’s Day, 1995.

West is now held at HMP New Hall in Flockton, Yorkshire. She is currently one of very few female prisoners in the UK serving a life tariff. Baby killer Lucy Letby this week became only the fourth.

Dame Alison Rose is in line for a £2.4million payout as she spends a year on gardening leave following her resignation last month. She is pictured leaving her home on Wednesday

Dame Alison quit after admitting she was behind the leaking of the decision to the BBC which suggested the account was shut for commercial reasons. Nigel Farage (pictured) was said to have not enough money to remain a customer of ‘the Queen’s bank’

Mr Farage said that he can understand why banks would close the accounts of money launderers and fraudsters but said: ‘Generally, I am not a fan of anyone being debanked’.

The former Brexit Party politician told MailOnline: ‘I think it’s an essential right, if you don’t have a bank account you can’t function.

‘What about an ex-con that has come out of prison – do they deserve a bank account? I think they do.’

A Co-op Bank spokesman told MailOnline: ‘We would not discuss individual customer account details.’ 

The bank previously sparked anger from campaigners after it banned a feminist group from using its services because of its stance on transgender issues.

It claimed the unnamed group ‘actively declined the rights of members of the transgender community’.

Mr Farage was speaking after it emerged yesterday that former NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose is in line for a £2.4million payout as she spends a year on gardening leave following her resignation over the banking scandal last month.

She could actually be in line for nearer £10million in bonuses and share awards if the taxpayer-backed bank does not claw back her renumeration in light of an internal probe into the scandal. 

Mr Farage branded the package a ‘sick joke’.

NatWest had earlier disclosed that under her contract, Dame Alison (pictured) was entitled to a salary, pension and share package worth £2.43million to cover her 12-month notice period

His account with the prestigious Coutts bank, which is owned by NatWest, was closed in June as the bank felt it did not align with his political views. 

The move by the bank sparked a public furore. Dame Alison quit after admitting she was behind the leaking of the decision to the BBC which suggested the account was shut for commercial reasons. Mr Farage was said to have not enough money to remain a customer of ‘the Queen’s bank’.

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry said the payoff represented a ‘disgraceful reward for failure in this largely taxpayer-owned bank’.

Mr Farage said: ‘When I heard the news, I thought it was, perhaps, a sick joke.

‘Surely you can’t breach client confidentiality, you can’t break virtually every important rule in the FCA codebook and you can’t then lie about it after you’ve briefed the BBC and still receive a £2.43million payout. That’s exactly what’s happened to Dame Alison Rose. The so-called inquiry into what she did has been kicked into the long grass.’

Former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘People who are accused of gross misconduct do not deserve payouts.’

Dame Alison has previously said she made a ‘serious error of judgment’ in briefing a senior BBC journalist with inaccurate information about why Mr Farage’s account was closed. She said he fell under the wealth threshold needed to maintain a Coutts account. 

However, a Subject Access Request revealed staff compiled a 36-page dossier detailing the bank’s issues with Mr Farage’s political views and the reputational risk they presented.

‘Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case,’ she said. ‘I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him.’

Last month, it was also revealed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was denied a bank account with Monzo amid an ongoing row over ‘laborious’ anti-money laundering rules. It later emerged bank staff had described Tories as ‘evil’ and celebrated their election losses.

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