Pro-Palestine Action post by wife of aide to British PM doesn’t warrant probe — cops

LONDON — London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday that a social media post by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser backing banned activist group Palestine Action did not merit a criminal investigation.

Journalist and author Sarah Helm, who is married to Jonathan Powell, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s national security adviser, posted on X Thursday, “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action,” an activist group banned as a terrorist organization by the UK government last year under Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer.

Helm was commenting after publisher Faber said this week that its Irish author Sally Rooney cannot sell her books in the UK because of her support for Palestine Action, which it is now illegal in the UK to support or finance.

In response, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the post was “being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.”

In an update on Saturday, a spokesperson for the capital’s police force said specialist officers had looked at the post and ruled it “did not meet the criminal threshold” and “no further police action will be taken.”

Palestine Action, which had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defense companies, was banned shortly after a June 2025 break-in at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base. Due to the proscription, expressing support for the group constitutes a criminal offense.

Helm’s X post also criticized another British journalist, Adam Boulton, who said Rooney had an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish stance, claiming he would “have all our books swept off the shelves in a jiffy.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism had responded on X that Helm’s post was “gobsmacking” and “clearly, the police need to investigate and Ms Helm must face the full force of the law.”

It urged Powell to “publicly denounce this rhetoric” because he is involved in Middle East diplomacy.

Helm is a journalist who has written for the Sunday Times and the Independent newspapers. She is a long-time critic of Israel.

In 2011, she wrote a play called “Loyalty” based on her relationship with Powell when he worked for Tony Blair as his chief of staff.

Powell is a civil servant who also served under Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer.

Helm regularly comments against Israel on her X account, which has over 1,000 followers, including Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori.

Last year, Ammori challenged the ban and the High Court ruled in her favor in February, before the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June. The Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal next month.

Amnesty International says more than 3,500 people have been arrested in Britain for alleged support of Palestine Action since the ban came into effect, many of them for holding up placards.