Humiliation for Starmer as adviser says Fattah case was ‘running joke’ | Politics | News
A former senior adviser to Sir Keir Starmer has mocked the Prime Minister over the release of Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. Paul Ovenden, who serves as Sir Keir Starmer’s No 10 Strategy Director, said Mr Abd El-Fattah’s case was a “running joke” in Whitehall.
Sir Keir said this week that bringing the activist to the UK “has been a top priority for my Government since we took office”. But Mr Ovenden insisted: “It came as a surprise to me that it was identified as a ‘high priority’ for the Government; a doubly surprise, because until recently I had been in a position of influence over the Government’s priorities.” Mr Abd El-Fattah arrived in London on Boxing Day after the British Government successfully negotiated his release from Egyptian custody.
Sir Keir said at the time: “I am delighted to have Alaa Abd El-Fattah back in the UK.” But it emerged that Mr Abd El-Fattah had made a series of comments calling for the killing of police and Zionists, describing British people as dogs and monkeys and saying “I’m a racist, I don’t like white people”. He also called on rioters to burn Downing Street.
Mr Ovenden, who was also Labour’s communications director when the party was in opposition, said: “What I knew about its plight during my time in government had largely to do with its status as a cause loved by Whitehall’s tough, clean-shirted diplomats and their fussy minions.
“They mentioned it so often that it became a running joke among my colleagues, a totem of the relentless waste of time and energy of people obsessed with fringe issues.”
He said the obsession with Mr Abd El-Fattah in Whitehall showed how the Government had been influenced by “a celebrity letter-writing campaign and activist lawyers”.
Mr Ovenden said: “Once you start noticing it, you see it everywhere – in the democratic powers given to arms-length bodies, or in the many smaller government departments that have been taken over or too weak to resist lobbying efforts.”
Mr Abd El-Fattah was granted UK citizenship in December 2021 through his British-born mother under former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson.
His imprisonment on charges of spreading fake news was described by United Nations investigators as a violation of international law. He was pardoned by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in September after years of lobbying by Conservative and Labor governments.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said due diligence arrangements were “wholly inadequate” and ordered a review to ensure lessons were learned.
Mr Ovenden left Sir Keir’s role as director of strategy in September 2025.
