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Attempts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from focusing on core 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 PM's chief of strategy, said the case of the imprisoned activist evolved into a “running joke” among those in government frustrated by the slow pace of change.

“We would be having long meetings on the priorities of the government, and frequently they would be railroaded via any other business into conversations 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 impact us daily. It actually became a sort of a running joke within government that people would invariably find a way to return to this conversation.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden said the amount of time dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was indicative of a government that has struggled to remain concentrated on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “influential” campaign organisations and arms-length bodies.

These remarks were made during his first public intervention since he resigned in September, after it was revealed he sent offensive texts about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Shared Frustrations in Downing Street

However, Ovenden’s political analysis is shared by many in Downing Street, even the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles slowing government action.

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government became distracted from its primary goals. He cited controversies over compensation for historical injustices and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as other instances.

“When the public is getting increasingly impatient, more and more fed up with a lack of progress, increasingly tired 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 further article, he calls on the government to scale back environmental regulations, reduce benefits expenditure and even end the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“It is not necessary to keep taking money of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to pay for above-inflation pension rises 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 small group of advisers close to the prime minister since his days in opposition, his exit was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, even as his analysis of governmental focus resonates in certain quarters.