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Attempts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah frequently diverted Keir Starmer’s government from concentrating on core home affairs, as stated by one of the PM's inner circle of former advisers.

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 became a “recurring punchline” among those in government frustrated by the lack of progress of change.

“We would be having long meetings on the key goals of the government, and often they would be derailed via AOB into discussions of this gentleman,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He continued, “Most of us on the political side of government were largely unaware of it – not closely following it – because it didn’t impact us daily. It truly turned into a bit of a kind of a running joke within government that people would always find a way to return to this topic.”

A Sign of Wider Struggles

Ovenden argued the amount of time spent on the activist's case 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 “well-connected” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.

These remarks came in his initial public statement since he resigned in September, after it was revealed he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

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

Ovenden said Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government became distracted from its main objectives. He cited rows over compensation for historical injustices and prohibiting cigarettes in pub gardens as further examples.

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

Calls for Policy Overhaul

In a further article, he urges the government to roll back environmental regulations, reduce welfare spending and even end the triple-lock on pensions.

“We don’t have to keep picking the pockets of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to fund inflation-busting pension increases for millionaires or an unsustainable welfare system,” he writes. “We don’t have to stifle small businesses at birth 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, even as his analysis of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.