🔗 Share this article

Efforts to secure the release of the British-Egyptian activist regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from focusing on core home affairs, according to a former member of the prime minister’s closest ex-aides.

Frustration Became a Source of Humour

Paul Ovenden, who stepped down last year as the PM's chief of strategy, said the case of the British political prisoner became a “running joke” among those in government frustrated by the lack of progress of change.

“We would be having long meetings on the priorities of the government, and frequently they would be derailed 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 side of government weren’t that aware of it – not closely following it – because it didn't affect us daily. It truly turned into 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 argued the significant focus dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic 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 quasi-independent agencies.

Ovenden’s comments were made during his first public intervention since he resigned in September, following revelations he sent offensive texts about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

But, Ovenden’s political analysis is echoed by many in Downing Street, 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 was sidetracked from its primary goals. He cited controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as other instances.

“When the public is getting more and more frustrated, ever more disillusioned with inaction, increasingly tired with distraction, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be using valuable time on what I consider diversions,” he said.

Calls for Policy Overhaul

In a further article, he calls on the government to scale back environmental regulations, reduce benefits expenditure and even end the triple-lock on pensions.

“We don’t have to keep taking money of the productive parts 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 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 the opposition benches, his exit was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, while his critique of governmental focus finds sympathy in certain quarters.