Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has had a bank account shut!
The former Brexit campaigner now finds himself sitting in the same camp as many groups and individuals on the right who, over the last few years, have found themselves without banking services.
Well, not quite. Mr Farage claimed in a video on Twitter that this was due to him being a “politically exposed person”, or PEP, and said closing his bank accounts was part of a plan to force him out of the UK. However, it has been claimed by Coutts, a private bank for high net-worth individuals, that his account was shut for commercial reasons. Essentially he doesn’t have enough money in it!
Farage claimed that losing his account has, in essence, made him a “non-person”. He went on to say he had been rejected from having a bank account by nine different companies.
So, a figure on the right has lost a bank account, and haven’t they all come out of the woodwork to condemn this! The likes of Neil Oliver, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Lawrence Fox, and any random host on GB News and Talk Radio are all up in arms at this miscarriage of justice.
But where have their collective voices been for the last few years when less famous figures than Farage, but still prominent nationalist types, have had their accounts frozen? Were they interested when the Tommy Robinsons of this world had accounts shut, or when a young nationalist woman gets stranded in a town centre when her funds are frozen?
No, they weren’t interested. Like so many on the centre-right, they routinely clap along if the civil liberties of anyone further to their right get abused. They should be careful what they wish for: once the “dissident” or “far” right – or whatever you call them – gets de-platformed from social media and have banking facilities shut, they will be next in line!
It’s also crucial to point out that Farage is not being denied a regular account, only an exclusive business account for people with over a million pounds of assets.
The Homeland Party believes the banks should be made to explain why these closures happen in a bit more detail than they do now – which is to say, no detail at all.
The Homeland Party would keep a very close eye on the banks, among others. A very close eye.
