Arron Banks, the Leave.EU founder and Farage’s financier targets activist Greta Thunberg in ‘vile’ tweet
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Arron Banks has been criticised and reported to Twitter after he sent a “vile” tweet about teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg as she set sail across the Atlantic to attend UN summits on global warming.
The billionaire Leave.EU founder warned the 16-year-old that “freak yachting accidents do happen in August” in response to a tweet by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas who praised Ms Thunberg for her “zero-carbon trip”.
Mr Banks later tweeted that his comment was a “joke” after it sparked outrage among MPs, celebrities and academics.
Lucas said she reported his comment, while Mr Banks said it was a joke.
“Arron Banks’ vile tweet about @GretaThunberg makes me sick to the stomach,” Ms Lucas wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning.
“I have made a formal complaint to Twitter.”
Nigel Farage was lavishly funded by Arron Banks in the year after the Brexit referendum, Channel 4 News has alleged, with the insurance tycoon providing him with a furnished Chelsea home, a car and driver, and money to promote him in America.
According to invoices, emails and other documents, Banks, who regularly bankrolled Farage’s former party, Ukip, spent about £450,000 in the year after the referendum, when Farage had quit as Ukip leader, the programme said.
