Pub passports are a step towards tyranny

DOES Boris Johnson genuinely believe in civil liberties? Once, this question would have seemed bizarre.

The Prime Minister has always been the staunchest defender of the treasured freedoms for which our ancestors fought.

He belonged to the finest Tory tradition of defending individuals from the meddling of authoritarian governments.

But today, his libertarian credentials are under the spotlight.

The Covid vaccine was trumpeted as the key to lifting this lockdown. But sinisterly, the tentacles of restriction are tightening.

Under chilling Government plans, Britons would be forced to carry proof of a vaccine or a very recent negative Covid test, before being allowed into pubs or restaurants.

This smacks of the dreaded demand of dictators: ‘Your papers, please.’

We accept this intrusive scheme was hatched from the best intentions.

But who will police it? Moreover, the hospitality sector already faces a fight to survive without extra red tape.

And it risks discriminating against those who refuse to have the vaccine on medical or ethical grounds. Will we also be required to show our health records to access museums, cinemas or supermarkets?

Of course, these measures might have been justified when the disease was rampant. But with hospitalisations and deaths plunging, and the most vulnerable inoculated, the suspension of fundamental rights can no longer be justified.

There is no escaping the fact that this risks being a ghastly first step on the road to a very un-British surveillance society.

This country has for a year obeyed the harshest curbs on our freedoms. These privations, which go against every fibre of our belief in liberty, were said to be exceptional and unique. Such tyrannical tactics must not become the norm.