I don't believe it was the same people. It was derailed by, essentially, "HN types" i.e. people who think they need to defend themselves from government surveil

I don't believe it was the same people. It was derailed by, essentially, "HN types" i.e. people who think they need to defend themselves from government surveillance. Without that campaign (NO2ID) screaming that it was Big Brother it would have been introduced without fanfare, because as you say Brits are generally pretty dismissive of their own privacy and trusting of the state, compared to many other countries.