🔗 Share this article

Efforts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from concentrating on core domestic political issues, 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 PM's chief of strategy, claimed the case of the British political prisoner became a “recurring punchline” among those in government frustrated by the slow pace of change.

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

He continued, “The majority on the political side of government weren’t that aware of it – weren’t that tuned into it – because it didn't affect us on a day-to-day basis. It actually became a sort of a standing joke within government that people would invariably find a way to bring it back to this topic.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden argued the amount of time spent on freeing Abd el-Fattah was indicative of a government that has struggled to remain concentrated on voters’ core priorities in the face of pressure from “well-connected” activist groups and arms-length bodies.

Ovenden’s comments were made during his initial public statement since he resigned in September, after it was revealed 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, even the prime minister, who lamented last month about excessive red tape delaying government action.

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was among a number of areas where the government became distracted from its primary goals. He pointed to controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas as other instances.

“When the public is getting increasingly impatient, more and more fed up with a lack of progress, more and more fed up with distraction, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be using valuable time on what I consider diversions,” he said.

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a separate piece, he urges the government to scale back green rules, cut benefits expenditure and even end the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“It is not necessary to keep taking money of the productive parts of our economy in order to pay for above-inflation pension rises for millionaires or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he writes. “We don’t have to strangle small businesses at birth with excessive regulation.”

As one of a small group of advisers around the prime minister since his days in the opposition benches, his exit was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, even as his critique of Whitehall priorities resonates in certain quarters.