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Attempts to free of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted the Starmer administration from focusing on core domestic political issues, according to 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, said the case of the British political prisoner evolved into a “recurring punchline” among those in government exasperated with the slow pace of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions on the priorities of the government, and often they would be railroaded via AOB into discussions of this gentleman,” he stated on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He continued, “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 bring it back to this conversation.”

A Sign of Wider Struggles

Ovenden said the significant focus spent on the activist's case was indicative of a government that has struggled to stay focused on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “well-connected” campaign organisations and arms-length bodies.

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

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

But, Ovenden’s assessment is echoed by many in Number 10, even the prime minister, who lamented last month about excessive red tape delaying government action.

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was among a number of areas where the government became distracted from its primary goals. He cited controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as further examples.

“At a time when the public is getting increasingly impatient, more and more fed up with a lack of progress, more and more fed up with distraction, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be using valuable time on what I consider distractions,” he said.

Calls for Policy Overhaul

In a further article, he calls on the government to scale back environmental regulations, reduce welfare spending and even scrap the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“We don’t have to keep taking money of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to fund above-inflation pension rises for millionaires or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he writes. “We don’t have to strangle small businesses at birth with excessive regulation.”

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, while his critique of governmental focus resonates in certain quarters.