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Efforts to secure the release of the British-Egyptian activist regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from concentrating on bread-and-butter domestic political issues, according to one of the PM's inner circle of former advisers.

A 'Running Joke' Within Government

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 government frustrated by the slow pace of change.

“We would be having long meetings on the key goals of the government, and often they would be derailed via AOB 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 – not closely following it – because it didn’t impact 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 always find a way to return to this topic.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden said the significant focus dedicated to freeing Abd el-Fattah was indicative of a government that has found it difficult to stay focused on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “influential” campaign organisations and quasi-independent agencies.

These remarks 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 previously.

Shared Frustrations in Downing Street

However, Ovenden’s assessment is shared by many in Downing Street, including the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles slowing government action.

Ovenden said Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several areas where the government was sidetracked from its main objectives. He cited controversies over reparations to former colonies and prohibiting cigarettes in outdoor hospitality areas 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 side issues, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be spending their 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, reduce benefits expenditure and even scrap the guaranteed pension increase mechanism.

“It is not necessary to keep taking money of the wealth-generating sectors of our economy in order to pay for above-inflation pension rises for the wealthy 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 close to the prime minister since his days in opposition, his exit was seen by many as a setback to Starmer, even as his critique of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.