🔗 Share this article

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

Frustration Became a Source of Humour

Paul Ovenden, who stepped down last year as the PM's chief of strategy, claimed the case of the British political prisoner became a “recurring punchline” among those in Whitehall exasperated with the lack of progress of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions on the key goals of the government, and frequently they would be derailed via AOB into discussions of this individual,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He continued, “The majority on the political side of government weren’t that aware of it – not closely following it – because it didn't affect us on a day-to-day basis. 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 said the significant focus spent on freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic of a government that has struggled to stay focused on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “well-connected” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.

These remarks were made during his initial public statement since he stepped down in September, following revelations he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Shared Frustrations in Downing Street

But, Ovenden’s political analysis is shared by many in Number 10, including the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles 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 cited controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as other instances.

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

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a further article, he urges the government to scale back environmental regulations, cut benefits expenditure and even scrap the triple-lock on pensions.

“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 millionaires or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he writes. “We don’t have to stifle small businesses from the outset with regulatory burdens.”

Having been part of a small group of advisers around the prime minister since his days in opposition, his departure was widely regarded as a setback to Starmer, even as his analysis of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.