I seem to remember reading 14th edition and at that time there was a distance, the early regulations were more like the guides to regulations we get today, seem to remember kettles had 1 meter only of flex so impossible to put kettle under tap while still plugged in.
However things have moved on, a waste disposal unit is likely to have a supply well under one meter away, now it only says suitable for the environment.
Washing machines have been know to have loose weights, and to walk around the kitchen smashing any thing in their way, so a plug or switch which is not jumping up and down to switch them off made sense, but again today out of balance and they auto switch off.
Placing cooker isolators where they can be used in the case of a chip pan fire makes sense, however what would ignite the chip fat with an induction hob I fail to see, and if required there would also be an isolator for gas appliances as well.
And he painted over the gas tap and couldn't turn it on, but it all makes work for the working man to do.