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Efforts to secure the release of the British-Egyptian activist frequently diverted the Starmer administration from focusing on core home affairs, as stated by 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, claimed the case of the British political prisoner evolved into a “running joke” among those in Whitehall frustrated by the lack of progress of change.

“We would be having long meetings on the key goals of the government, and often they would be derailed via any other business into conversations of this gentleman,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added, “Most of us on the political side of government were largely unaware of it – not closely following it – because it didn’t impact us daily. It actually became a bit of a kind 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 said the amount of time dedicated to 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 came in his first public intervention since he stepped down in September, following revelations he sent offensive texts about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

However, Ovenden’s assessment is echoed by many in Number 10, including the prime minister, who complained last month about bureaucratic hurdles delaying government action.

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government became distracted from its primary goals. He pointed to controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in pub gardens as further examples.

“At a time when the public is getting more and more frustrated, more and more fed up with inaction, increasingly tired with side issues, 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 separate piece, he urges the government to scale back green rules, cut benefits expenditure and even scrap the triple-lock on pensions.

“We don’t have to keep picking the pockets of the productive parts of our economy in order to fund inflation-busting pension increases for millionaires or an unsustainable welfare system,” he writes. “There is no need to stifle 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 departure was seen by many as a blow to Starmer, while his analysis of Whitehall priorities resonates in certain quarters.