There is much news to report outside of the stories hitting the headlines.

Let’s start with Nigel Farage, whose fortunes have been looking up this week.

New bank accounts

A few days ago, Lloyds Bank offered the former UKIP leader both a business and a personal account.

On Friday, October 13, GB News told us (purple emphases mine):

Nigel Farage has finally been accepted by the Lloyds group after being debanked by Coutts and rejected by 10 other banks.

Speaking on GB News, Farage issued a message to Lloyds and said banks should “not judge people”.

The debanking row has sparked a series of investigations, regulatory probes and consequences for UK’s top banks …

Farage said he had “virtually given up” and was “in a point of despair” after being rejected by 10 banks …

“I’m pleased to say, a friend of mine who runs a banking advisory service called J9, he got in touch with me and said I think I can help.

“I said you’re probably wasting your time. But no, I went and met with Lloyds and they were very clear that they do not judge people on their perfectly legally held political opinions. So I’m very pleased they’ve opened up bank accounts.”

Following the scandal the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that the watchdog will “act” if financial institutions wrongly deny politicians or their families access to services.

It should be noted that J9 is for businesses.

On Monday, October 16, Farage had more in the final segment of his show (see the 55:00 mark):

Returning to the FCA, their investigation involved a period of time which excluded Coutts’s termination of Farage’s business and personal accounts. On Tuesday, September 19, GB News revealed:

You can see Farage dispute the FCA’s findings at the 6:50 mark. He said he was not the only other debanked person in that time period. In fact, he says he has ‘a list longer than your arm’ of those who were similarly inconvenienced:

As far as PEPs, or Politically Exposed Politicians, are concerned, the FCA said that none had been debanked. The Daily Sceptic picked up the Financial Times‘s report on the story, which says in part:

The row over the ‘debanking’ of Farage sparked complaints from other politicians about their treatment by lenders, prompting the Government to order a review by the FCA. People familiar with the situation said the FCA would publish findings in the coming days showing there were no cases of political views being the “primary” reason for personal account closures across the 34 banks and payment companies that were asked to submit data to the regulator. The FCA declined to comment.

Farage told the Financial Times on Monday night: “This is farcical. There are plenty of examples of prominent Brexiteers being debanked. The FCA is part of the problem.” …

The Daily Sceptic says:

The FT reports “some unease” in Whitehall that the FCA had failed to find data showing that “debanking of people for their political views was widespread”. One Government insider is reported to have said that “regulators have been quite slow off the line on this issue”, adding that the data assembled by the FCA “might lack granularity”.

A separate FCA review of the treatment of ‘politically exposed persons’ is ongoing.

And, in case anyone is wondering if NatWest’s former CEO will be getting millions even though it was alleged she leaked some of Farage’s banking information to a BBC reporter, Farage expressed his disgust with her £2.4 million payoff on August 23:

Remember that, in banking, it is gross misconduct to reveal a customer’s name or any details. A lowly cashier (teller) would have been summarily sacked with nothing. Yet, this woman gets millions more. It almost looks like a reward. Then again, she is part of the establishment:

Guido Fawkes also picked up on the story (emphases in red his):

Former NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose is set to receive a final pay packet of around £2.4 million, despite resigning in disgrace over the Farage-Coutts debanking scandal last month. She broke customer confidentiality and briefed the BBC with a false story, yet is nonetheless expected to receive £1.115 million in shares on top of her £1.115 million salary. Nice work if you can get it (or lose it, apparently)….

Returning to the past week, on Friday, October 13, the day that GB News announced Farage’s new relationship with Lloyds, Guido Fawkes ran a story about the bank’s Human Resources Director who deplored the lack of wokery at the Conservative Party conference re sexual identity politics. In a memo, the woman invited distressed staff to get help:

… This is a moment that matters and I would ask that, as a community, we come together to offer allyship and support to anyone affected.

Support is also available via our LGBTQ Mental Health Advocates and through the private medical healthcare available via BUPA. You can also contact Mind Out, our LGBTQ mental health partners.

Guido says:

If Tory rhetoric was too much for Lloyds staff and Sarah Underhill last week, today’s news that Lloyds Bank has opened bank accounts for Nigel Farage will be a bit of a shock for her. She may herself now need counselling…

Guido had a follow-up on Monday, October 16, which says, in part:

… Guido has seen that any push back from Lloyds staff against her views has been swiftly shut down.

One staff co-conspirator at Lloyds Bank bravely questioned Underhill’s statement on Lloyds’ account on the internal corporate social networking platform Yammer. He tells Guido that he quickly received a call from his boss instructing him to “stop posting on Yammer as many senior managers were complaining about [his] posts”. He was then instructed to log off the platform immediately. Questioning the corporate woke agenda is a career risk for staff at Lloyds…

Guido’s original report on this story has already gained some follow-up from the likes of the Telegraph, GB News and the Daily Mail. Perhaps Lloyds should focus on serving their customers rather than pushing a woke political agenda…

I couldn’t agree more.

Still, good luck to Nigel in his new banking relationship. I hope it is a long and satisfying one.

Welcome from the Conservative Party

The Conservatives held their annual Party conference at the beginning of October.

On October 3, GB News‘s new political editor Christopher ‘Chopper’ Hope, formerly of the Telegraph, asked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak if Nigel Farage would be welcome. It was a hypothetical question, but the Conservatives invited Farage to the conference for the first time in 30 years. He ended up being one of the most popular guests there.

Sunak’s response was interesting:

Rishi Sunak has suggested he would welcome Nigel Farage back into the Conservative Party.

Sunak told GB News the Tory Party is a “broad church”, adding that he “welcomes lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals”.

Nigel Farage is attending the Conservative Party Conference for the first time in 30 years …

When pressed whether this philosophy extends even to Nigel Farage, Sunak responded: “Look the thing I care about is delivering for the country and the more people as we’ve seen at this conference – we’ve had record attendance I think at this conference. Lots of energy, lots of engagement.

“People are responding to what we are doing. We’re making the right long term decisions for the country.

“We want to bring change, that’s what I’m about” …

Cabinet minister Chris Heaton-Harris told LBC he thinks Farage “feels at home coming to the party that delivered Brexit”.

Nigel Farage left the Conservative Party in 1992 after the UK signed the Maastricht Treaty.

Guido also had a feature on this development, along with a tweet of Farage dancing with former Home Secretary Priti Patel:

Rishi Sunak has conceded that he would welcome Nigel Farage rejoining the Tory party. When pushed by Chris Hope on whether he would accept the former Brexit Party leader, the PM told GB News, “Look, the Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values.” Brexiteers will be pleased…

Whether Farage actually wants to rejoin the party is another matter. He said, “I achieved a lot more outside of the Tory party than I ever could have done from within it”. Last night Nigel was dancing with Priti Patel at the GB News party, she’s a likely future leadership contender.

Guido concluded:

Never say never, Nigel…

The story did not end there. While speculation for and against about Farage signing up to his former party continued, the Labour Party are frightened by the prospect of Farage becoming a future Conservative leader. Labour’s conference followed the Conservatives’ this year.

On Wednesday, October 18, PoliticsHome reported:

During Labour party conference in Liverpool last week, Emily Thornberry predicted on the PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown that Farage could become leader of the Conservative Party.

“If Nigel Farage is allowed into the Tory party, which looks like he will be, and if he’s then given a seat, then he could end up being leader of the Conservative Party,” said Thornberry.

If Lady Thornberry has mentioned it, Labour are scared.

Their fears could come true, according to former Conservative Chancellor, George Osborne:

George Osborne, the former chancellor, has also suggested – on his own podcast, Political Currency – that Farage could rejoin the party and go on to be elected as leader by the membership.

Let’s hope so!

It’s all to play for now, Nigel. Onwards and upwards.