British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered an urgent review of information failures after discovering Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and herself were unaware of historical tweets by Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah when making public statements about his case, according to a letter to the Foreign Affairs Committee dated December 29.

After Egypt lifted Abd El Fattah's travel ban and he arrived in Britain earlier this week, decade‑old tweets attributed to him resurfaced, including posts interpreted as endorsing violence against “Zionists” and police, both the British conservative-leaning parties' right‑wing and commentators branded them racist and incisive.

Figures in Reform UK and the Conservative Party have urged the government to strip him of his British citizenship or deport him, arguing it was wrongly granted in 2021 via his Egyptian UK‑born mother.

Cooper stated in the letter to committee chair Emily Thornberry that the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and herself "were all unaware of those historical tweets, and we consider them to be abhorrent".

An investigation revealed current and former ministers were never briefed on the tweets when speaking publicly about the case, with civil servants handling the matter also unaware.

"It is clear that this has been an unacceptable failure and that long standing procedures and due diligence arrangements have been completely inadequate for this situation, leading to the serious problem of successive Foreign Secretaries and Prime Ministers making public statements without all relevant information," Cooper wrote.

The Foreign Secretary stated that the unexpected emergence of historical tweets alongside social media posts by senior politicians on Boxing Day welcoming the conclusion of the long-running case and Abd El Fattah's reunion with his family "have added to the distress felt by Jewish communities in the UK and I very much regret that".

Cooper has asked the Permanent Under Secretary to review serious information failures and systems within the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for conducting due diligence on high-profile consular and human rights cases.

The UK provided consular support to Abd El Fattah during his detention in Egypt, where human rights concerns were raised over many years by successive governments and world leaders.

The previous government decided to provide assistance on the basis of vulnerabilities and human rights issues, an approach continued by the current administration.

"The provision of that consular support is grounded in the citizenship status of the individual and the circumstances of their case, but consular support must never be interpreted as support for an individual's personal views," Cooper stated.

Following Abd El Fattah's belated registration as a British national in 2021, successive governments and officials worked to secure his release from detention and bring the long-running case to a conclusion.

Alaa issued an “unequivocal” apology, calling the posts “shocking and painful” and saying some had been distorted, while insisting they do not reflect his current views.  

The UK government has said the apology was proper but reaffirmed that he remains a British citizen, further inciting comments from right wing pundits and politicians in recent hours.