🔗 Share this article

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

A 'Running Joke' Within Government

Paul Ovenden, who stood down last year as the PM's chief of strategy, claimed the case of the British political prisoner evolved into a “running joke” among those in Whitehall frustrated by the slow pace of change.

“We'd hold extended discussions on the priorities of the government, and often they would be railroaded via any other business into discussions of this gentleman,” he stated on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He continued, “Most of us on the political side 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 bring it back to this conversation.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden argued the amount of time spent on the activist's case was indicative of a government that has struggled to stay focused on voters’ core priorities in the face of pressure from “well-connected” activist groups and arms-length bodies.

These remarks were made during his first public intervention since he stepped down in September, after it was revealed he sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

However, Ovenden’s political analysis is shared by many in Downing Street, even the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles delaying government action.

Ovenden said Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government was sidetracked from its primary goals. He cited controversies over reparations to former colonies and banning smoking in pub gardens as further examples.

“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 simply can’t afford to be using valuable time on what I consider distractions,” he said.

Advocating for a Radical Shift

In a separate piece, he calls on the government to roll back environmental regulations, cut welfare spending and even scrap the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“We don’t have to keep picking the pockets of the productive parts of our economy in order to fund above-inflation pension rises for millionaires or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he argues. “There is no need to stifle small businesses from the outset with excessive regulation.”

As one of a small group of advisers close to the prime minister since his days in the opposition benches, his departure was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, even as his analysis of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.