Yes, it’s often bluster, but there are just as many ideologues in government as there are in the general public. They come out strong with policies like this because they need to present as a government that would take the action their voters want, if only it wasn’t for those lefty lawyers!

Cameron did it with the wholly ineffective porn block. He begged the biggest ISPs to block porn and settled at making it opt in. Ostensible, but still a victory to the socially conservative voters he was targeting.