Winston Churchill was, according to taste, the greatest ever Englishman or an imperialist, racist mass murderer. He was, however, strongly opposed to identity cards and his 1952 government which defeated Labour had fought the election with the slogan “set the people free”, part of its programme being the abolition of the compulsory identity cards which had been introduced during the war. The Tories saw them as “unBritish”, whatever that means, and a characteristic of totalitarian states.

Starmer, driven by an increasingly self-destructive urge to be more racist than Reform in the hope that the most reactionary sections of British society will vote Labour, has announced that his government will introduce mandatory digital ID. Yesterday it was being referred to as the “Brit card” by journalists who had been briefed on it. That tells you precisely who this measure was designed to please.

Last month in Belfast groups of loyalist vigilantes were marauding through parts of the city approaching anyone who looked “foreign” and demanding to see passports and ID. Starmer is giving licence to lumpen racist scum everywhere these cards will be valid to organise “patrols” to harass anyone who doesn’t have a local accent or has the wrong skin colour.

It now seems that there is a fair chance of Reform heading the next British government, probably in coalition with the rump Tories and the far right unionist parties. They will have 311 MPs to Labour’s 144. Does anyone seriously believe that a Farage government is going to stop Tommy Robinson’s fascist supporters prowling the streets harassing anyone they don’t like the sight or sound of? That is never going to happen.

Tony Blair, the last British prime minister to float this idea, might be a war criminal but even he was sensible enough to let it die. This was despite the fact that people did see some real improvements in their living standards and he hadn’t spent his first year in office making himself just about the most despised man in the country. The idea that the cash in hand economy is going to be killed off by this measure is an idea plausible only to someone who’s never had a plumber under their sink or bought anything in a market stall.

Setting aside all the arguments about civil liberties and data being harvested by Palantir, Satan’s representative on earth, a major objection to this proposal is that every white racist in England will now feel entitled to imitate their lumpen soulmates in Belfast. It will be a scary time for anyone who isn’t “indigenous”.

Just about the only upside is that this could prove to be a Poll Tax moment.

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