Ego and ID
Why has Sir Keir Starmer decided that now is the right time to revive Tony Blair's ill-fated ID scheme? Could it, I wonder, have anything to do with the rise and rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party? More than a little, I suspect. Blair managed to get the controversial idea onto the statute book in 2006 but Gordon Brown, who succeeded him as PM the following year, never got round to implementing the Identity Card Act. One assumes he had little enthusiasm for it but it has re-emerged under Starmer as the 'BritCard' - not, despite its name, as a bit of tangible plastic to nestle alongside your bank cards and bus pass, but digitally. Yes, this time it will be on your smartphone, although what happens if, like me, you don't possess one, is unclear. The government is working on it - why am I not reassured? Then again, it will apparently only be compulsory for those seeking work in the UK so, as a pensioner, I assume that precludes me. We are told we'll never be ask...