🔗 Share this article

Efforts to free of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted the Starmer administration from concentrating on core home affairs, as stated by one of the PM's inner circle of former advisers.

A 'Running Joke' Within Government

Paul Ovenden, who stood down last year as the prime minister’s director of strategy, said the case of the imprisoned activist became a “running joke” among those in government frustrated by the slow pace of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions 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 added, “Most of us on the political team of government were largely unaware of it – weren’t that tuned into it – because it didn't affect us daily. It actually became a bit of a kind of a running joke within government that people would always find a way to bring it back to this conversation.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden argued the significant focus dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic of a government that has found it difficult to stay focused on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “well-connected” activist groups and arms-length bodies.

These remarks were made during his initial public statement since he resigned in September, after it was revealed he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Shared Frustrations in Downing Street

But, Ovenden’s political analysis is shared by many in Number 10, even the prime minister, who complained last month about excessive red tape delaying government action.

Ovenden said Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government was sidetracked from its primary goals. He pointed to rows over compensation for historical injustices and banning smoking in pub gardens as other instances.

“When the public is getting more and more frustrated, more and more fed up with inaction, increasingly tired with side issues, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be spending their time on what I consider diversions,” he said.

Calls for Policy Overhaul

In a separate piece, he calls on the government to roll back green rules, reduce benefits expenditure and even scrap the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“It is not necessary to keep taking money of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to fund inflation-busting pension increases for the wealthy or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he writes. “There is no need to stifle entrepreneurs at birth with excessive regulation.”

Having been part of a handful of advisers around the prime minister since his days in opposition, his exit was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, while his critique of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.