You want to overtake a vehicle, you do it on the right hand side not the left!
But as drivers and as someone else on the previous page said, they get upset when cyclists stray more than 0.000000000001 of a millimetre away from the kerb.
That was going to exactly what I said. Its swings and roundabouts cyclists should pass on the right as you say, but by the same token drivers should leave more than a few inches clearance when passing a cyclist, but many do not.