The case of British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abd El-Fattah has revealed the ‘sheer weirdness’ of Whitehall priorities, a former top aide to Sir Keir Starmer has claimed.

Paul Ovenden, who quit as the Prime Minister’s director of strategy in September, said Mr Abd El-Fattah’s case was a ‘running joke’ among Downing Street staff.

He described the activist as ‘a cause célèbre beloved of Whitehall’s sturdy, clean-shirted diplomats and their scurrying auxiliaries’.

Read more: ‘Weird’ priorities of civil servants behind UK’s support for Egyptian ‘extremist’ at centre of citizenship row, says Keir Starmer’s former aide