Operator , tui, has cancelled all operator, tui, has cancelled all outbound flights to rhodes up to and including friday. As wildfires continue to spread rapidly right across the island. Nearly 1500 tourists have been flown home in the biggest evacuation of its kind. As the fires burn there for a sixth day running. Jet2 and tui both running. Jet2 and tui both announcing four repatriation flights today. Easyjet and tui have another planned for tomorrow. Well, the foreign tomorrow. Well, the Foreign Office says between seven and 10,000 britons are currently on the island. Michael gove has the island. Michael gove has announced plans to create more homes in the uks main cities by he says , relaxing planning rules he says, relaxing planning rules and cutting red tape. The and cutting red tape. The housing secretary says he wants to make it easier to convert empty shops into new flats. For example , and extend existing example, and extend existing homes. The plans will include homes. The plans will include creating an urban quarter in cambridge. The plans, which were cambridge. The plans, which were immediately dismissed by the local conservative mp Anthony Browne as nonsense. And lastly, browne as nonsense. And lastly, britains first Million Pound footballer , trevor francis, has footballer, trevor francis, has died at the age of 69 after a heart attack. He joined Nottingham ForestFootball Club in 1979, helping them to win back to back european cups. He also scored the winning goal against malmo. He played 52 times for his country before taking to management where he guided Sheffield Wednesday and birmingham to major finals. Youre up to date on tv online dab radio and the tune in app. This is gb news, britains news. Channel good evening. I told the world about three weeks ago that coots had closed my business or my personal accounts and had not given any reason what so ever. I also said that id struggled to open Bank Accounts literally anywhere else. But this began to anywhere else. But this began to really matter. On the 4th of july when the bbc ran this headune july when the bbc ran this headline and now it came from their Business Editor , simon their Business Editor, simon jack Nigel Farage Bank account shut for falling below the wealth limit, which led, of course , to much hilarity among course, to much hilarity among political commentators in the media. And of course , me saying media. And of course, me saying the whole thing was political was clearly some sort of crackpot conspiracy. But once crackpot conspiracy. But once i got my subject access requests back from pm coots and goodness me, i didnt really expect 36 pages of bile vitriol and actually quite a lot of it, frankly, just outright libellous as the only way that i could disprove the bbc story was to pubush disprove the bbc story was to publish it in full. And there are many things in that report i did not want to put into the pubuc did not want to put into the public domain. So vile, were they . But i had to do it. Public domain. So vile, were they . But i had to do it. And they . But i had to do it. And this all emerged last thursday when, of course, i got a letter of apology from Dame Alison Rose, who is the ceo of the entire Natwest Group. I felt entire Natwest Group. I felt that the bbc, frankly, were being a little bit slow in correcting the story and changing the headline. And i thought the hurt the story had caused me was such that actually i really, really, really wanted an apology. Well bbc apologies are very, very rare. They only are very, very rare. They only happen once every few years. But happen once every few years. But today i got that apology and it began with simon jack, the bbcs Business Editor, and he says the information on which we based our reporting on nigel farage and his Bank Accounts came from and his Bank Accounts came from a and senior source. A trusted and senior source. Hmm. Interesting however, the information turned out to be incomplete and inaccurate. Incomplete and inaccurate. Therefore, i would like to apologise to mr farage on top of that, i got a letter this afternoon in which i was pleased to get, and it came from Deborah Turness , the ceo of bbc news and turness, the ceo of bbc news and Current Affairs. And im going Current Affairs. And im going to put the letter up on your screen now and lets go through what is significant , screen now and lets go through what is significant, made very, very clear that repeated that the information turned out to be inaccurate and at the bottom of that paragraph, she says, i would therefore like to apologise to you on behalf of bbc news. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Simon jack, thank you, deborah. Tennis, i know you, deborah. Tennis, i know some will say it took too long, but thank you. A fulsome apology but thank you. A fulsome apology from the bbc is not something that happens very often. Im delighted to get it. But when we go into the detail of this letter, its really , really letter, its really, really interesting because because again, she repeats that a senior and trusted source had put this information out. But what was really interesting and what i learnt from this letter was that she says, we went back to the source to check that they were happy for us to publish the information. They said that they were. Now the bbc have were. Now the bbc have apologised. They are now out of it , which points the finger back it, which points the finger back to coutts and natwest banking group. Extraordinary Howard Davies is the chair chairperson as he calls himself. What he would, wouldnt he . Hes the chairperson of the whole group. Hasnt said a word. Peter flavell is the ceo of coutts bank, hasnt said a word , and bank, hasnt said a word, and Dame Alison Rose sent me that letter on thursday that a letter of apology, well, lets call it, shall we, a half apology , an shall we, a half apology, an i want to get i want to get to the absolute truth of what happened here. How can it be right . And it doesnt matter whether its me or anybody else, how can it be right that my banking status and the amount of money i may or may not have in my personal and business accounts are being discussed out with the Business Editor of the bbc. I then disseminated to a wider world. How can that be ethical . How can that be legal . How can that be moral . I want to find out the moral . I want to find out the truth and im blooming well going to find out the truth since i was last with you, ive now put in a subject access request to natwest as well to see what they hold about me and whether the name Dame Alison Rose crops up there. And ive rose crops up there. And ive also been to the Information Commissioners Office at the end of last week and theyve got real powers of investigation. We real powers of investigation. We will get to the source. The trouble is all of this will take a bit of time in the short term. I think a bank, a bank which we own, 39 of a bank that has got between 15 and 20 million customers, i think this is an issue that matters so much. I issue that matters so much. I really believe that the Treasury Select Committee should be reconvened because what is happening to me with coutts bank and the Natwest Group and actually is happening to thousands , possibly tens of thousands, possibly tens of thousands, possibly tens of thousands of businesses, all over this country. And i have now effectively become their voice and im going to stand up and fight not just for me but for all of them to i also want to say thank you. I have never, to say thank you. I have never, ever put my head over the parapet on a political or Current Affairs issue and had this level of support and it comes from across the board because this is a non partisan issue. Goodness me. Even people issue. Goodness me. Even people in the guardian writing things about me saying, well, we might not agree with him, but actually on this he is right. And the huge numbers of people that have emailed me texted me , been in emailed me texted me, been in touch with me. The tales of woe that im getting from men and women whove had their Small Business accounts closed down by the is a massive the banks. This is a Massive National scandal and it gets even worse because they intend to start looking at your social media. Believe me, this isnt just about me. Once im out of just about me. Once im out of the way. They want to come for you, too. Thank you to rishi sunak for his support on this issue. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed to Andrew Griffith , much indeed to Andrew Griffith, the city minister who is calling the city minister who is calling the heads of 19 banks into downing street this week to say you should not close peoples accounts just because of their political views. This isnt over by a long way. I think what weve really exposed here is the political takeover of corporate institutions and the way in which innocent, ordinary people are suffering. This campaign will go on, i promise you, for a very, very long time. Now very, very long time. Now joining me is David Elstein , joining me is David Elstein, former chief executive of channel five and former producer at the bbc. David, good evening. Thank you very much indeed for joining me. There are some some joining me. There are some some critics would say the bbc should have acted last thursday and i have acted last thursday and i have to say, you know, when i wrote the letter to tim davie on saturday, i was beginning to get a bit frustrated. And but they have you know, they have actually fully apologised. And actually fully apologised. And this is not something, is it . The bbc does very often. Well, i still dont think theyve done it today. I know you were very gracious in accepting the apology when you were on the pm programme this afternoon , but reading debbies afternoon, but reading debbies letter and debbie turners is a really a serious person and a strong executive. And its strong executive. And its interesting that your complaint to tim davie was answered by her as chief executive of bbc news , as chief executive of bbc news, but in the letter she uses the word inaccurate four times as she doesnt use the word wrong. She doesnt use the word wrong. She doesnt use the word untrue. She doesnt use the word false. She doesnt use the word false. She doesnt use the word false. She doesnt use the word misleading. She simply says misleading. She simply says inaccurate and incomplete. Well i think that level of well, non apology doesnt suffice. Now, it is quite , as you say, hard to is quite, as you say, hard to get an apology out of the bbc. Yeah and Cliff Richard eventually got a grudging one, but only after the bbc had spent £2 million refusing to give him an apology for its invasion of his privacy. You havent had to his privacy. You havent had to wait as long as he did, and you havent had to sue them. But its disappointing that someone even as genuine and serious as debbie turness, can not bring herself to say we were wrong. Herself to say we were wrong. Interesting. No, but she does interesting. No, but she does at least give me more information about the source by confirming they went back to the source. Now, there are some, david, who would speculate that given that simon jack had had dinner the night before with Dame Alison Rose, you know, a conversation early that morning could have been, you know , we could have been, you know, we had a couple of glasses of wine, didnt we . Dame alison, are you sure you want me to pursue this . She says yes. And nigel farage gets call at 9 00 the gets a phone call at 9 00 the next morning may be what next morning that may be what happened. Not be what happened. It may not be what happened. It may not be what happened. A of cynics, happened. But a lot of cynics, david, saying that by david, are saying that by issuing apology , even the issuing the apology, even if the wording precise as you wording is not as precise as you think it perhaps should be, that by issuing this , what theyve by issuing this, what theyve effectively done is to throw dame alison under the bus. Dame alison under the bus. I think thats probably true , basically. Simon jack is being very coy about who his senior and reliable source might be, and reliable source might be, andifs and reliable source might be, and its , i think, inconceivable and its, i think, inconceivable that sitting next to her at dinner at a bbc event, that sitting next to her at dinner at a bbc event , the dinner at a bbc event, the farage issue was never mentioned. I mean , it was very mentioned. I mean, it was very much in the news and clearly either she she was the source or she must have authorised the source because its, for me, inconceivable that. Simon jack , inconceivable that. Simon jack, who is a reputable and intelligent journalist, would take a briefing from somebody else inside the Natwest Group or acutes without saying to them, im going to check this out with Dame Alison Rose. So if shes not in the chain, i would be really , really surprised. And i really, really surprised. And i think the pressure that Jacob Rees Mogg was applying continues to be relevant. And as you say, to be relevant. And as you say, the bbc has passed the buck back to natwest and theyre going to have to come up with the answer i absolutely. David elstein, thank you very much indeed for joining me this evening on gb news. Well, that was interesting. I want to promise you i will get to the absolute truth. Im to going get to the absolute truth now, a story that should worry all of us. This is this battle im now engaged upon is an absolutely fundamental one. It is freedom of the individual versus the authoritarian state. And who better to join me in a moment than toby young from the Free Speech Union. Radio. I said from the very start, if they can do it to me, they can absolutely do it to you. Im joined by toby young, general, secretary of the Free Speech Union, and somebody who was debunked by paypal. Not all that long ago, but you managed to win that battle. Toby my case, theyd been monitoring on a monthly basis my social media. I dont align with the banks values. Funny, ive had some emails over the weekend from people resigning from the bank saying to the bank, you dont augn saying to the bank, you dont align with my values, which ive enjoyed. And i know for a fact enjoyed. And i know for a fact that staff that work for all of these banks now have their social media monitored. Ive got social media monitored. Ive got a couple of cases of people being brought before disciplinary committees for what theyve said online. But now we understand that the four major banksin understand that the four major banks in britain written into the small print, into banks in britain written into the small print , into the the small print, into the detail, is that they have the ability to monitor our social media. And with al and the march of technology erg, were not very far away from every one of natwest customers and every other banks being monitored on social media. How seriously do you take this . You take this . I take it pretty seriously. I i take it pretty seriously. I think its a big story. The four major high street banks , hsbc, major high street banks, hsbc, lloyds, barclays and of course, natwest, which owns coutts, all say not in their terms and conditions, but in the small print of their privacy policies says that they reserve the right to monitor other peoples social media accounts. They dont say media accounts. They dont say why and they dont. Explicit admit its to with a view to debunking them. If they express debunking them. If they express any unorthodox or heterodox political views. But thats the strong implication. And we know that banks have been doing that not least in your case. And in my case. So i do take it very seriously. One of the things the Free Speech Union does is we advise our members not only to make sure their privacy settings are set to quite a High Standard , so not everyone can access their social media accounts, but also to install apps that automatically delete their social media posts after a week, a fortnight or so. So a fence archaeologists cant go back over a number of years to try and find things to be offended by. And is that i mean, i certainly whatsapp has got that. Do all the social media apps have that right . Yeah, i think you can find apps which which you can install which will delete old posts and you can set the timeline. Thats good advice. Otherwise weve got to say to people, dont say what you think. And that would the last thing that would be the last thing that would be the last thing that want and toby, that we want to do. And toby, i begin to think that d banking making people non making you a non person in the wrong hand is this is potentially the ultimate tool of repression. Tool of repression. It really is. I mean, its as i think we discussed when i was last on your show, its the emergence of the of a chinese style social Credit System in britain. And what that means is, i mean, in communist china, if you Say Something that offends the ruling party, you can lose access to your Bank Accounts. And in an increasingly cashless society, thats a very powerful tool o