Did Tony Blair call for Digital ID mandate to suppress dissent?!

Did Tony Blair call for a Digital ID mandate to suppress dissent in the United Kingdom?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

 

Claim : Tony Blair called for Digital ID mandate to suppress dissent!

People are sharing an article (archive) by The People’s Voice (formerly NewsPunch), which claims that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has “ordered” the new Labour government to roll out the Digital ID in the UK to crack down on dissent and anti-establishment behaviour!

Here is an excerpt of the long and (intentionally?) confusing article. Feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!

Tony Blair Pushes UK Gov’t To Mandate ‘Digital ID’ To Crack Down on Dissent

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has ordered the new Labor government to prioritize the urgent roll out of digital ID in the UK to crack down on dissent and anti-establishment behavior.

Recommended : Is Keir Starmer building detainment camps for UK rioters?!

 

Truth : Tony Blair did not call for Digital ID mandate to suppress dissent!

This is yet another example of fake news created / promoted by The People’s Voice, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Tony Blair wants Digital ID to control immigration, not dissent

Let me start by pointing out that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair argued for the UK to adopt a Digital ID to “control immigration”, by ensuring that “we know precisely who has a right to be here”.

We need a plan to control immigration. If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices. In office, I believed the best solution was a system of identity, so that we know precisely who has a right to be here. With, again, technology, we should move as the world is moving to digital ID. If not, new border controls will have to be highly effective.

As you can see, Tony Blair is promoting the Digital ID as a way to control immigration, not as a way to suppress dissent.

This was clearly pointed out in the Politico article that was quoted in the The People’s Voice article, which makes me wonder – why would The People’s Voice claim or suggest otherwise???

Fact #2 : Tony Blair suggested Digital ID weeks before 2024 UK riots

Tony Blair actually made his Digital ID suggestion in an article (archive) for The Sunday Times, which was published on Saturday, 6 July 2024.

In other words, he pushed the Digital ID idea more than 3 weeks before far-right, anti-immigration riots erupted in the UK. Obviously, his Digital ID proposal has nothing to do with the riots that would come three weeks later!

So why would The People’s Voice dig up his article from more than a month ago, to suggest that Tony Blair wanted a Digital ID mandate to suppress dissent???

Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article did not provide any evidence to back up its “fact checked” claim.

Recommended : Did British MP Warn Of NATO Dirty Bomb False Flag Op?!

Fact #3 : Digital ID cannot suppress dissent

Tony Blair actually tried to introduce compulsory ID cards while he was Prime Minister, but the idea was scrapped because it proved to be deeply unpopular with the public.

Even if the United Kingdom implements a Digital ID mandate, it would only serve as a standardised way to ascertain someone’s identity and citizenship. Such a digital ID, or even a physical identity card, do nothing to suppress dissent – people can still protest, and people who commit crimes can still be identified and prosecuted even without a digital ID, or physical identity card.

Unsurprisingly, The People’s Voice article did not explain how a digital ID, or even a physical identity card,  would suppress dissent…

Fact #4 : The People’s Voice Is Known For Fake News

The People’s Voice is the current name for NewsPunch, which possibly changed its name because its brand has been so thoroughly discredited after posting numerous shocking but fake stories.

Founded as Your News Wire in 2014, it was rebranded as NewsPunch in November 2018, before becoming The People’s Voice. A 2017 BuzzFeed report identified NewsPunch as the second-largest source of popular fake news on Facebook that year.

Its articles have been regularly debunked as fake news, so you should never share anything from NewsPunch / The People’s Voice.  Here are some of its fake stories that I fact checked earlier:

Please help us FIGHT FAKE NEWS by sharing this fact check article out, and please SUPPORT our work!

 

Please Support My Work!

Support my work through a bank transfer /  PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp

Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Fact Check | PoliticsTech ARP

 

Support Tech ARP!

Please support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or donating to our fund. Thank you!

Leave a ReplyCancel reply