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Efforts to secure the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah regularly distracted the Starmer administration from focusing 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 stepped down last year as the prime minister’s director of strategy, said the case of the imprisoned activist evolved into a “running joke” among those in Whitehall exasperated with the lack of progress of change.

“We'd hold long meetings on the key goals of the government, and often they would be railroaded via AOB into conversations of this gentleman,” he stated on 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 affect us daily. It actually became a sort of a running joke within government that people would always find a way to return to this conversation.”

Symptomatic of a Broader Issue

Ovenden said the amount of time spent on the activist's case was indicative of a government that has struggled to remain concentrated on the public's main concerns in the face of pressure from “influential” activist groups and quasi-independent agencies.

Ovenden’s comments came in his initial public statement since he stepped down in September, after it was revealed he had sent inappropriate messages about the Labour MP Diane Abbott eight years ago.

Echoes of PM's Own Concerns

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

Ovenden stated Abd el-Fattah’s case was one of several 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.

“When the public is getting increasingly impatient, ever more disillusioned with inaction, increasingly tired with distraction, in my opinion, we cannot justify to be spending their time on what I consider diversions,” he said.

Calls for Policy Overhaul

In a separate piece, he urges the government to roll back green rules, reduce benefits expenditure and even end the triple-lock on pensions.

“We don’t have to keep taking money of the productive parts of our economy in order to fund inflation-busting pension increases for the wealthy or an unaffordable benefits framework,” he writes. “We don’t have to stifle entrepreneurs from the outset with excessive regulation.”

Having been part of a handful of advisers around the prime minister since his days in opposition, his exit was widely regarded as a blow to Starmer, while his analysis of Whitehall priorities finds sympathy in certain quarters.