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Efforts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from concentrating on core domestic political issues, according to one 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 imprisoned activist evolved into a “running joke” among those in government exasperated with the lack of progress of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions on the priorities of the government, and often they would be railroaded via any other business into conversations of this individual,” 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 truly turned into a bit of a kind of a standing joke within government that people would invariably find a way to return to this conversation.”

A Sign of Wider Struggles

Ovenden argued the significant focus dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic of a government that has found it difficult to remain concentrated on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “influential” campaign organisations and arms-length bodies.

These remarks came in his first public intervention since he stepped down in September, following revelations he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

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

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

“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 urges the government to scale back green rules, reduce welfare spending and even end the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“We don’t have to keep picking the pockets of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to pay for above-inflation pension rises for millionaires or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he argues. “We don’t have to strangle small businesses from the outset with regulatory burdens.”

As one of a small group of advisers around the prime minister since his days in the opposition benches, his departure was widely regarded as a blow to Starmer, while his analysis of governmental focus resonates in certain quarters.