Nigel Farage plans to sue Coutts bank owner NatWest as account closure line rumbles

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Nigel Farage has said he plans to sue Coutts owner NatWest after his bank account was shut down, sparking a major row over free speech and top government interventions.

The arch-Brexiteer and former Ukip leader has claimed the bank defamed him with comments it made in official journals about why it no longer wanted him as a client.

This is the latest twist in an extraordinary spat between Mr Farage and the private bank, which apologized to Mr Farage earlier this week.

Mr. Farage also demands an apology from the BBC, which reported that Coutts closed the account because there was not enough money in it. The company changed its story but did not issue an apology.

The Brexit chief said it would be "difficult" to sue the BBC but was considering "all options" against NatWest.

He said: 'It is difficult to sue the BBC, but I am considering all options for what I do next, including legal action against NatWest.

'What was said about me in the report was unfair and defamatory.'

Mr Farage, 59, suggested last month that his account had been shut down in revenge for Brexit or because he was a 'politically exposed person' (P EP).

Through a subject access request, Mr. Farage obtained a filing from the bank that allegedly cited Mr. Farage's retweet of a joke by comedian Ricky Gervais about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic, who opposes Covid vaccinations, to report that he was "xenophobic and racist".

The filing, released by Mr. Farage earlier this week, also repeated earlier press reports, from a former school friend, that a teenaged Farage sang "gas 'em all, gas 'em all" about the Jews, as well as claims reported in the press by a former teacher that he "once walked through a village in Sussex singing Hitler Youth songs".