"I know you’ve run seven times and lost seven times ...”
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage had a heated exchange with BBC journalist Nick Robinson on the Today Programme.
Farage had appeared on the programme following the resignation of NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose in the wake of the row over Coutts bank’s decision to cancel his account with them.
The Brexiteer had insisted that the decision to close his account was political after he obtained a 40-page document looking at his suitability as a Coutts customer. The document flagged concerns that he was “xenophobic and racist”, and also questioned the reputational risk of having Mr Farage as a client.
Dame Alison had admitted being the source for an inaccurate BBC Story which had claimed that the reason for Farage’s account closure was because he no longer met the wealth threshold for Coutts.
She quit last night, after mounting pressure from Downing Street, the chancellor and other senior cabinet ministers to do so.
With the row over Farage’s bank account closure continuing today, Robinson told him: “You know pretty much whatever you do there are people saying ‘I know what this is about, he wants to get back in again’.
“I know you’ve run seven times and lost seven times …”
A furious Farage replied: “I’m really not going to have this. I’m sick to death of your condescending tone.”
Robinson replied: “I was teasing you.”
Farage hit back: “Actually you weren’t. What you should say to people is ‘you’re the only person in British history who’s won two national elections leading two different parties’.”
Robinson then went on to ask: “Are you coming back then, given your previous success?”
Farage replied: “No, I’m now a champion and a crusader for men and women who’ve been closed down by the banks and I want cultural changes within the banks and I want legal changes.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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