Despite winning the News Host of the Year award, Nigel Farage feels truly haunted at home.
In the clip below, she expresses her concern about a recent development that could have a significant impact on her future career and even on her ability to live in the UK.
The Brexiteer faces the sudden and inexplicable closure of his checking account and the refusal of other lenders to open one for him. This is despite the fact that he is a reliable person, has a large current account, has not been particularly quarrelsome since the 80s, and his overall income is stable and tax regular.
Farage suggests three possible reasons he was unable to obtain a bank account:
- the EU definition of a politically exposed person (PEP),
- Prejudice by corporate institutions e
- the false allegations by a member of parliament regarding Russian government funds.
As a result, the former politician, now a successful radio commentator, became a non-person with extremely restricted rights, all at the behest of the financial institutions. We should be afraid of the fact that this civil death without a trial could happen to any of us. Here is the Twitter post in which Farage denounces all of this, and then the transcript of his speech.
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The establishment is trying to evict me from the UK by closing my bank accounts.
I have not been given any explanation or legal remedy as to why this is happening to me.
This is severe political persecution at the very highest level of our system.
If they can do it to me, then… pic.twitter.com/O4xQ1h79ub
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 29, 2023
Greetings.
Given that, you’d think I’m pretty happy – I mean, you know, the News Anchor of the Year award was pretty cool, and a huge thank you to all the people who voted for me.
The establishment was obviously appalled because they consider me incredibly unpopular in their little London bubble.
Maybe in Notting Hill, but not in the rest of the country.
But the truth is, I’m not full of spring cheer.
In the last two months I have been confronted with an issue that could seriously affect my future career and my ability to stay in this country.
I’ve worked for the same banking group since 1980. I have since had my personal accounts with them and my business accounts throughout the 1990’s when I was working in the City of London and also in recent years and at one of the branches of this large banking group – one with a very prestigious name.
But I don’t want to name it yet.
A few months ago I received a call saying we were closing his accounts.
I asked why, but received no explanation. I was told a letter would be coming explaining everything. The letter came and all it said was that we were closing his accounts – we want to close everything by a date which is more or less now.
I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I complained. I emailed the President. A man named Lackey called and said it was a business decision and I have to say I don’t believe it for a second.
So I thought, “Here, I have to find another bank.”
I’ve been to six banks, actually seven, and I’ve asked them all if I could have a private and a business account, and the answer was no in every single case.
There is nothing erratic or unusual about what I do – the payments coming in and going out each month are broadly the same. I have a fairly positive cash balance in my company account and I think at current interest rates that’s good enough for the bank.
Why is this happening to me?
Well, one explanation is this: A few years ago, the European Union came up with a definition of a person called “PEP” or “politically exposed person”.
This is a person who can rise from Prime Minister to City Council. I think the reason was “if people in politics were open to corruption”, “if foreign governments, from Ukraine or China or elsewhere, could pour money into the accounts of corrupt politicians”.
So somehow I get it and I get it.
But it’s all about interpretation, isn’t it? And what the banks argue is that holding an account for a PEP leads to increased compliance costs.
I have spoken to the city minister of that country and it is hoped that this definition of the EU – which has been adopted into UK legislation – can be toned down a bit, but we’ll see.
But of course, any bank, any organization can choose how they want to interpret a “PEP” and if they want the account, they can do it according to their liking.
To my knowledge, I don’t think anyone in the political world has been treated the way I have been.
But the banks themselves are part of the big corporate structures in this country: these are the organizations that didn’t want Brexit and I think in my case the corporate world will probably never forgive me because they know that if I didn’t what I did with the help of thousands of people from our People’s Army, there would never have been a referendum, let alone a victory.
I’m the one who has to take the blame.
That’s the second possible reason why I can’t have a bank account: the prejudices that emanate from our institutions.
But I think there is a third reason.
A few months ago, Sir Chris Bryant, Chairman of the Privileges Committee, claimed in the House of Commons, on the basis of parliamentary privileges, that I received large sums of money directly from the Russian Government, stating the calendar year in which this had happened.
The truth is that I have not received a dime from any source even remotely related to Russia. Still, since he said it, it’s valid.
I wrote to the speaker demanding an apology but Sir Chris Brown did nothing.
I wonder if that isn’t the cause of my problem.
I hired a very good law firm in London. I’m making a series of data access requests to the international agencies and the bank that wants to shut me down to find out what’s worrying me.
But think about it: without a bank account, you become a virtual non-person. You don’t really exist. It’s like the worst regimes of the mid-20th century – in Russia or Germany – you literally become a non-person.
And you don’t have it anymore – you had it in the past – but you no longer have the right to have a bank account.
There is now an opportunity to find a means of receiving and disbursing funds through a fintech company, which could be a lifeline of sorts. But it’s not a bank account because I can’t earn interest on my cash balance, borrow money when I need it whenever I need it, or take out a mortgage when I want–I’m completely denied that.
I can’t link a debit card directly to my account. I will not be able to exist and function in 21st century modern Britain.
I’ll tell you more about my decision on GB News tonight at 7pm, but I’m starting to think life in the UK may be becoming totally unbearable because of the prejudice against me. I’ll tell you more about my thoughts tonight at seven on GB News.
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