Dame Alison Rose has had a difficult week. The former chief executive of NatWest was forced out of her job in the early hours of Wednesday morning for her role in the Nigel Farage ‘debanking’ scandal.

In the case of Farage vs the banks, most sensible people are not on the side of the banks. After all, Farage has now been vindicated in his claims that Coutts, an elite private bank owned by NatWest, closed his account due to his political views. Meanwhile, Rose admitted this week that, in an apparent attempt to rubbish the story, she told the BBC’s Simon Jack that the decision to exit Farage was ‘solely a commercial one’. In doing so, she misled the BBC and may have broken the bank’s own confidentiality rules.

Commentators and politicians across the political spectrum have come forward to defend Farage because the precedent set by a politically choosy bank (and a leaking CEO) is a dangerous one. Most people agree that banks shouldn’t be shutting down the accounts of individuals they disagree with.

But that is not how Labour’s Rachel Reeves sees it. When asked about the Farage affair on Channel 4 News earlier this week, the shadow chancellor decided to defend Rose. Reeves praised her tenure as NatWest’s ‘first female chief executive’. Apparently, Rose had actually done a ‘good job’ at NatWest and the moves to have her ousted were tantamount to ‘bullying’.

[Women bosses who are more concerned with being seen as “women” first, instead of a great boss are the worst. ~ Beege]