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Efforts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah frequently diverted the Starmer administration from focusing on bread-and-butter home affairs, as stated by a former member of the prime minister’s closest ex-aides.

Frustration Became a Source of Humour

Paul Ovenden, who stood down last year as the prime minister’s director of strategy, claimed the case of the British political prisoner evolved into a “running joke” among those in Whitehall exasperated with the lack of progress of change.

“We would be having extended discussions on the key goals of the government, and often they would be railroaded via any other business into conversations of this gentleman,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added, “Most of us on the political team of government weren’t that aware of it – weren’t that tuned into it – because it didn’t impact us daily. It actually became a sort of a running joke within government that people would invariably find a way to bring it back to this topic.”

A Sign of Wider Struggles

Ovenden said the significant focus dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic of a government that has struggled to remain concentrated on voters’ core priorities in the face of pressure from “influential” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.

These remarks came in his first public intervention since he resigned in September, after it was revealed he had sent offensive texts about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Shared Frustrations in Downing Street

But, Ovenden’s assessment is echoed by many in Downing Street, even the prime minister, who complained last month about bureaucratic hurdles slowing government action.

Ovenden said Abd el-Fattah’s case was among a number of areas where the government was sidetracked from its main objectives. He cited rows over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as further examples.

“When the public is getting more and more frustrated, ever more disillusioned with a lack of progress, more and more fed up with side issues, in my opinion, we simply can’t afford to be spending their time on what I consider distractions,” he said.

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a further article, he calls on the government to scale back green rules, cut welfare spending and even scrap the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“It is not necessary to keep picking the pockets of the productive parts of our economy in order to pay for inflation-busting pension increases for the wealthy or an unsustainable welfare system,” he writes. “We don’t have to strangle entrepreneurs from the outset with excessive regulation.”

Having been part of a handful of advisers around the prime minister since his days in opposition, his departure was widely regarded as a setback to Starmer, while his critique of governmental focus finds sympathy in certain quarters.