DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Now hold NatWest's board to account

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Now hold NatWest’s board to account

Few people would disagree that it was right for NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose to step down after her spectacularly inept handling of the Nigel Farage scandal.

By admitting, after a three-week omerta, that she was the source of an untrue BBC story about the former Ukip leader’s account at Coutts, she made her position untenable. Make no mistake, had a bank clerk violated client confidentiality so egregiously, they’d have been sacked on the spot.

Before pulling the plug at 2am, the NatWest board announced its confidence in Dame Alison, raising serious questions about chairman Howard Davies’ judgment.

This whole affair, of course, would never have happened had woke-worshipping bank bosses not closed Mr Farage’s account because it found his – entirely lawful – political views dislikeable.

This problem is insidious and ever more widespread. In an increasingly cashless society, where accounts are as vital as utilities, partisan banks are dangerous.

Few people would disagree that it was right for NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose to step down after her spectacularly inept handling of the Nigel Farage scandal 

Sir Keir Starmer’s unwillingness to condemn Coutts for its attack on free speech suggests that, deep down, Labour is comfortable with banks cancelling their ideological enemies

Labour’s strident defence of Dame Alison was extraordinary, claiming she had been forced out by the Prime Minister and Chancellor. 

But given the taxpayers’ 39 per cent stake in the bank since the 2008 crash, they have a duty to ensure it is well run.

Sir Keir Starmer’s unwillingness to condemn Coutts for its attack on free speech suggests that, deep down, Labour is comfortable with banks cancelling their ideological enemies. 

What a chilling glimpse of how a Starmer government could ride roughshod over freedom and democracy.

Not above the law

The corrupt solicitors who are growing rich by charging vast sums to make false asylum claims for illegal immigrants do more than just bring disgrace upon the legal profession.

Submitting fabricated cases makes it harder for genuine refugees to find sanctuary here, while shattering the public’s faith in the immigration and justice systems.

So the Mail applauds the Lord Chancellor for urging the solicitors’ watchdog to launch an urgent probe into the corruption exposed by our undercover investigation.

The Mail applauds the Lord Chancellor for urging the solicitors’ watchdog to launch an urgent probe into the corruption exposed by our undercover investigation

In a hard-hitting letter, Alex Chalk tells the Solicitors Regulation Authority to use the ‘full force of sanctions’, including fines and the threat of being struck off. This is a good start. But more could be done.

It beggars belief that solicitors who intentionally help bogus asylum seekers game the system cannot face criminal sanctions – only professional ones.

Ministers should make it an offence. After all, if the lawyers want to behave like common crooks, they should be treated like them.

End the bad blood

Rishi Sunak hit the nail on the head yesterday when he told the inquiry into the blood contamination scandal that its victims had suffered a ‘litany of broken promises and dashed expectations’.

Rishi Sunak hit the nail on the head yesterday when he told the inquiry into the blood contamination scandal that its victims had suffered a ‘litany of broken promises and dashed expectations’

So why doesn’t the Government do the right thing and approve full compensation for the thousands whose lives have been ruined because of infected NHS transfusions during the 1970s and 80s?

Of course, it’s easy to understand why the families heckled the PM. Their battle for justice has lasted 40 years. That the state still fobs them off shames us all.

At first blush, it looks like a marketing campaign that has amusingly backfired. Instead of showcasing the beauty of God’s Own Country, Yorkshire Water’s latest advert features images of Herefordshire hills, a bar in Russia and motorists in Ukraine. 

This blooper, however, underlines a troubling point about Britain’s water companies. If their rapacious foreign owners show such casual disinterest in their customers, is it any surprise that bills are cripplingly high and sewage is shamelessly pumped into rivers and seas?

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