Keir Starmer admits he ‘regrets’ welcoming the discharge of Anglo-Egyptian dissident amid row over ‘anti-Semitic tweets’
Keir Starmer admitted he ‘regrets’ welcoming the release and return to Britain of an Anglo-Egyptian political activist after it emerged he was behind a series of anti-Semitic tweets.
The Prime Minister had said he was ‘delighted’ when Alaa Abd El-Fattah was released by the Cairo government before Christmas.
But tweets later resurfaced dating back to 2010 in which the activist appeared to call for violence against Zionists and the police.
It sparked calls for his UK citizenship, granted by Boris Johnson in 2021, to be revoked.
Downing Street described the posts as ‘abhorrent’ but said an apology issued by Mr El-Fattah was ‘fairly fulsome’.
Speaking to the BBC today Sir Keir said ‘of course I regret’ his original response, adding that he ‘wasn’t very happy’ that he had not been made aware of the historical posts, and had raised the issue with the appropriate team.
Repeatedly asked whether he would like to apologise, Sir Keir told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘Of course I regret that, and your point that somebody in Government should have known is one I’ve made myself to the appropriate team, because I do think I should have been made aware, and I wasn’t made aware.
The Prime Minister had said he was ‘delighted’ when Alaa Abd El-Fattah was released by the Cairo government before Christmas.
Downing Street described the posts as ‘abhorrent’ but said an apology issued by Mr El-Fattah was ‘fairly fulsome’
Should citizenship be revoked for past offensive social media posts, or is forgiveness more important?
‘And that is why we are carrying out a review, but to meet your challenge, yes it’s a failing within the system.
‘It shouldn’t have happened, and I wasn’t very pleased about it when I found out, hence, we’re taking remedial action.’
Mr El-Fattah was granted UK citizenship in December 2021 under former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson.
His imprisonment for charges of spreading false news was branded a breach of international law by UN investigators, and he was pardoned by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in September after years of lobbying by Conservative and Labour governments.
He flew to the UK on Boxing Day and was reunited with his son, who lives in Brighton.
Politicians, including the Prime Minister, welcomed his return before the resurfacing of tweets dating back to 2010 in which the activist appeared to call for violence against Zionists and the police.
The Conservatives and Reform UK have both suggested he should have his British citizenship stripped due to the posts, although it is understood there are no plans for this and the law does not appear to provide grounds to deport him.
On Friday, Paul Ovenden, a former senior adviser to the Prime Minister, branded the El-Fattah case a ‘totem of the ceaseless sapping of time and energy by people obsessed with fringe issues’, with the Government occupied by ‘flim-flam’.
The activist’s detention had become a ‘running joke’ in Whitehall, said Mr Ovenden, who quit as Sir Keir’s director of strategy in September.
Writing in the Times, Mr Ovenden said: ‘What I knew of (Mr El-Fattah’s) plight during my time in government was largely down to his status as a cause celebre beloved of Whitehall’s sturdy, clean-shirted diplomats and their scurrying auxiliaries.’
