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Efforts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah frequently diverted Keir Starmer’s government from focusing on core home affairs, as stated by one of the prime minister’s closest ex-aides.

Frustration Became a Source of Humour

Paul Ovenden, who stepped 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 Whitehall exasperated with the slow pace of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions on the priorities of the government, and often they would be derailed via AOB into conversations of this individual,” he told 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 affect us on a day-to-day basis. It truly turned into a bit of a kind of a running joke within government that people would invariably find a way to return to this conversation.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden said the amount of time spent on freeing Abd el-Fattah was symptomatic of a government that has found it difficult to remain concentrated on voters’ core priorities in the face of pressure from “well-connected” campaign organisations and arms-length bodies.

Ovenden’s comments came in his first public intervention since he resigned in September, after it was revealed he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

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

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government became distracted from its main objectives. He pointed to rows over compensation for historical injustices 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, more and more fed up with side issues, in my opinion, we simply can’t afford to be spending their time on what I consider distractions,” he said.

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a further article, he calls on the government to scale back green rules, reduce benefits expenditure and even scrap the triple-lock on pensions.

“We don’t have 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 argues. “We don’t have to stifle entrepreneurs at birth with regulatory burdens.”

Having been part of a handful of advisers close to the prime minister since his days in opposition, his exit was widely regarded as a setback to Starmer, even as his critique of governmental focus resonates in certain quarters.