BBC ex-employee blasts corporation as he calls for quick apology to Nigel Farage
Nicholas Owen called on the BBC to apologise
GB News
A prominent ex-BBC newsreader has told GB News that the BBC must apologise for tis coverage of the Nigel Farage Coutts row.
Nicholas Owen, who presented the BBC News for a number of years, told the Camilla Tominey show that the corporation should admit to having made a mistake.
A report by BBC business editor Simon Jack claimed that the former Brexit Party leader's account with the prestigious bank had been shut because he fell below the financial threshold required.
The bank requires its customers to borrow or invest at least £1million, or hold £3million in savings, according to an eligibility questionnaire on its website.
Damning screenshots from an internal Coutts document revealed the real reason Farage's bank account was closed
GB NewsHowever, it has since emerged that Farage's political views played a key part in the bank's decision to close his account.
In an internal document about his account, the bank said the GB News presenter had made remarks which were "distasteful and appear increasingly out of touch with wider society".
The BBC said its story had been "clarified" and updated to reflect the dossier.
However, Owen criticised the BBC for failing to apologise to Farage and for failing to act quickly enough to its error.
Simon Jack admitted that his story had been updated but has not apologised
BBCHe said: “Simon Jack is a jolly good journalist, jolly good at his job, and if he sits next to a banker who gives him a line on the Nigel Farage story – well of course he’s going to go with that, it’s a jolly good source.
"But if that source turns out to be wrong, the facts are simply the other way round as Nigel himself has now discovered in great detail, then for goodness sake, just put your hands up.
"Simon, come on lad, just say ‘sorry, got that wrong’... Sometimes [your] instincts are proved to be wrong, go out and say it, admit and get on with it. But the BBC moves so slow."
The Telegraph reports that Jack was sat next to Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of Coutts' parent company Nat West, the night before his report was published.
Jack's original story quoted people “familiar” with the decision to close Farage's account.
Apologising on behalf of the bank earlier in the week, Rose said: “No individual should have to read such comments and I apologise to Mr Farage for this.”
Meanwhile, the Treasury has said it is tightening the rules for UK banks over closing customers’ accounts, under changes designed to protect freedom of expression.