Boris is in danger of becoming the Prime Minister he once warned against

Back when Boris Johnson was on a mission to stop identity cards being used in Britain, he made a very persuasive argument: if parliament allows such expensive technology to come into existence, then the government will cook up excuses to use it. They will start to ‘scarify the population’ by saying there is a threat or an emergency. If they sink millions into an ID card scheme then be in no doubt: our liberty will be threatened. The slippery slope, he said, is one that the government is sure to go down.

Boris Johnson is in danger of becoming the Prime Minister he once warned against. At first, we were told that any vaccine identity system would be used only for foreign travel. ‘I certainly am not planning to introduce any vaccine passports, and I don’t know anyone else in government who is,’ Michael Gove said in December. ‘What I don’t think we will have in this country is – as it were – vaccination passports to allow you to go to, say, the pub or something like that,’ the Prime Minister assured us in February.

Now he suddenly tells us that people visiting nightclubs or other large venues from September will, after all, be required to show proof of their vaccination status. He also did not rule out using this technology for pubs and restaurants – and no one should be surprised if the discussion then turns to shops, airports and public transport. Nor should anyone be surprised if all this is done using emergency powers, with no parliamentary vote.

No British government has ever tried to force vaccines on the population. The issue has been dealt with in the past as it ought to be dealt with now: through persuasion, and relying on herd immunity to protect the few who cannot be persuaded.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Johnson was the most eloquent and passionate defender of basic liberal values. It would be tragic if the principles he espoused, which led this country to elect him as Prime Minister, turned out to be part of a false prospectus.

This is an extract from The Spectator’s leading article. Read the full piece online, or in this week’s magazine, out now.