Why Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s Case Might Well Hang Over Labour Into 2026

Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s name has been circling political spheres for years now as successive British governments tried to secure his freedom.

The pro-democracy activist was detained in Egypt before being sentenced to five years behind bars in 2021 and accused of “spreading fake news”.

The UN later declared his arrest was unlawful. As he is British-Egyptian dual national, both the Conservatives and Labour made an effort to lobby for his freedom.

So it was a no-brainer for Keir Starmer, when he proudly announced El-Fattah had finally been released and was back in the UK on Boxing Day.

However, it soon emerged that El-Fattah had a history of posting offensive tweets, which included calls for violence against Zionists and the police.

Suddenly, the Conservatives and Reform UK began calling for the government to revoke the El-Fattah’s citizenship.

Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp even called him a “scumbag”.

El-Fattah quickly apologised “unequivocally” for his own “shocking and hurtful” words from a decade ago, describing the posts as “mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises” in the Middle East.

No.10 welcomed his apology, admitting his social media posts were “abhorrent” but insisted it still welcomed the return “of a British citizen unfairly detained abroad”.

However, just hours later, the Foreign Office announced it was looking into how officials had ever been “unaware” of El-Fattah’s posts, some of which dated back to 2010.

Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to MPs admitting the long-standing procedures and due diligence arrangements had been “completely inadequate” in this case.

She added that it is “deeply concerned that the unexpected emergency of these historical tweets” and ministers’ own posts welcoming El-Fattah had caused distress to the Jewish community.

While a review into these “serious information failures” might quieten some of the temporary backlash around this particular case, it speaks to a wider communication problem with the government.

It’s just the latest area where there seems to have been a major flip-flop at the last moment. Critics have slammed it as a moment which perfectly captures the government’s incompetence.

It comes after major U-turns over other policies, like inheritance tax for family farms, the two-child benefit cap, and welfare cuts – to name just a few – all of which have accompanied a steep decline in the poll for Labour, just 18 months out from a landslide victory.

The topic of citizenship is one which is particularly divisive right now, too.

A new YouGov poll found twice as many Brits ( 36% compared to 19%) now think birthplace is key to being a UK citizen compared to two years ago.

Backlash over asylum hotels reached new heights in the summer, as far-right protests

Meanwhile, opposition politicians are calling for the government to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights to crack down on small boat crossings amid rising anti-immigration sentiment.

While Labour are only pushing to reform the ECHR right now, home secretary Shabana Mahmood has already introduced sweeping changes to the asylum system, including making refugee status temporary.

As More in Common chief Luke Tryl wrote on X, this backdrop means El-Fattah’s case could “become a defining moment” for the government.

He said it risks “crystallising” arguments the government “simply isn’t competent enough to be in control or, more than that, has badly out of line priorities”.

With the challenges already mounting up for Labour as it heads into 2026, the government’s opponents can be expected to continue pressing this matter for some time to come yet.