Efforts to secure the release of the British-Egyptian activist regularly distracted Keir Starmer’s government from focusing on core domestic political issues, as stated by one of the prime minister’s closest former advisers.
Paul Ovenden, who stepped down last year as the prime minister’s director of strategy, said the case of the imprisoned activist became a “running joke” among those in government exasperated with the lack of progress of change.
“We would be having long meetings on the priorities 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 – weren’t that tuned into it – because it didn’t impact us daily. 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.”
Ovenden argued the amount of time dedicated to the activist's case was indicative of a government that has found it difficult to remain concentrated on voters’ core priorities in the face of pressure from “influential” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.
Ovenden’s comments were made during his initial public statement since he stepped down in September, following revelations he had sent offensive texts about the Labour MP Diane Abbott previously.
However, Ovenden’s political analysis is shared by many in Downing Street, including the prime minister, who lamented last month about bureaucratic hurdles delaying government action.
Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was among a number of areas where the government was sidetracked from its main objectives. He pointed to controversies over compensation for historical injustices and banning smoking in outdoor hospitality areas as further examples.
“At a time when the public is getting increasingly impatient, ever more disillusioned with a lack of progress, more and more fed up with distraction, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be spending their time on what I consider distractions,” he said.
In a further article, he calls on the government to scale back environmental regulations, reduce benefits expenditure and even end 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 inflation-busting pension increases for the wealthy or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he argues. “There is no need to stifle entrepreneurs at birth with excessive regulation.”
Having been part of a small group of advisers around the prime minister since his days in the opposition benches, his exit was widely regarded as a setback to Starmer, even as his critique of governmental focus finds sympathy in certain quarters.
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