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Efforts to free of Alaa Abd el-Fattah frequently diverted the Starmer administration from focusing on bread-and-butter domestic political issues, according to a former member of the prime minister’s closest former advisers.

Frustration Became a Source of Humour

Paul Ovenden, who stood down last year as the PM's chief of strategy, claimed the case of the British political prisoner became a “running joke” among those in Whitehall frustrated by the slow pace of change.

“We'd hold long meetings on the priorities of the government, and frequently they would be derailed via AOB into discussions of this individual,” he stated on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He continued, “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 affect us on a day-to-day basis. It actually became a sort of a standing joke within government that people would invariably find a way to return to this topic.”

A Sign of Wider Struggles

Ovenden said the significant focus spent on freeing Abd el-Fattah was indicative of a government that has found it difficult to remain concentrated on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “influential” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.

These remarks were made during his first public intervention since he stepped down in September, following revelations he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

But, Ovenden’s assessment is echoed by many in Number 10, including the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles delaying government action.

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government became distracted from its main objectives. He pointed to controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as other instances.

“When the public is getting more and more frustrated, more and more fed up with inaction, more and more fed up with distraction, in my opinion, we simply can’t afford to be using valuable time on what I consider diversions,” he said.

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a separate piece, he calls on the government to roll back environmental regulations, cut welfare spending and even scrap the triple-lock on pensions.

“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 stifle entrepreneurs at birth with regulatory burdens.”

As one of a small group of advisers close to the prime minister since his days in the opposition benches, his departure was widely regarded as a blow to Starmer, even as his critique of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.