Ex-Starmer aide blames Labour woes on 'handing over power to lawyers and activists'

Paul Ovenden, who quit last September as Downing Street director of political strategy over offensive messages surfaced, said the British state has got "bigger and bigger while simultaneously and systematically emasculating itself".

In an op-ed in the Times, Ovenden pointed to the case of the freed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah as a sign that "revealed the sheer weirdness of how Whitehall spends its time".

Speaking in an interview after the piece was published, he called upon politicians to adopt a "stiffening resolve" to "take back control" of Britain's democratic levers.

Despite alluding to the failures of Labour's term so far, he said that he did believe that Sir Keir is "exactly the right person" to take on Whitehall, saying : "He does feel those frustrations very acutely."

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Reflecting on the case of Mr Abd El Fattah, Mr Ovenden said: "We'd be having long meetings on the priorities of the government and they would be railroaded by any other business into discussions about this gentleman.

"Most of us on the political side of government weren't that aware of it, weren't that tuned into it because it didn't impact us on a day-to-day basis.

"It actually became a kind of running joke within government that people would always find a way to bring it back to this conversation."

Ovenden is the second Labour aide to take aim at the blob in recent days.

Chris Powell, a veteran of four Labour general election campaigns and brother of Labour MP Jonathan Powell, has written in the Guardian suggesting a "fundamental reset" to see off the rise of Reform UK.

He wrote that voters were "fed up, think nothing works – and some are simply angry and feel ignored".

Sir Keir Starmer faces a difficult year in 2026, with local elections coming in May amid dire polling numbers for Labour.

A poor performance is also rumoured to be the trigger for a leadership challenge, with Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham said to be coveting Starmer's role.

Mr Ovenden said they politicians had "effectively handed away power".

"What they're really trying to do is hand away risk but they've handed away power to arm's length bodies, to quangos, to activists, to lawyers, to regulatory framework, to well-networked organisations... who are able to basically stop the machinery of government doing things."

When suggesting that topics that were not priorities for voters but were being railroaded by civil servants, Ovenden suggested topics such as paying colonial reparations or banning vaping in pub gardens

He added that it was "no surprise the public are fed up with politicians' ability to get things done" but said that he believed that "we can change this and change quite quickly".

Sir Keir himself has expressed frustration with getting change delivered.

Before Christmas, when asked by the Parliamentary Liaison Committee what he had found most difficult in government, Sir Keir replied: "Speed and ability to get things done in Parliament.

"We have so many checks and balances and consultations and regulations and arm's length bodies.

"My own sense, after 12 to 18 months in the job - and this is a fault of governments of all political colours - is that every time something has gone wrong in the past, successive governments have put in place another procedure, another body or another consultation to try to stop ourselves ever making a mistake again.

"My experience as Prime Minister is of frustration that every time I go to pull a lever, there are a whole bunch of regulations, consultations and arm's length bodies that mean the action from pulling the lever to delivery is longer than I think it ought to be, which is among the reasons I want to cut down on regulation generally and within government."