The UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell is under pressure to distance himself from a comment made by his wife, the award-winning writer Sarah Helm, in support of Palestine Action.
The post was made in defence of the critically acclaimed Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who said she had been forced to pull her books from shelves in the UK after pledging proceeds from their sales to Palestine Action.
Helm, a former Sunday Times journalist and diplomatic editor at the Independent who spent many years covering the Middle East, wrote on X indicating support for the direct action group, which was proscribed last year.
Under terror laws, this could constitute a criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of ۱۴ years in prison. The ban has so far resulted in more than ۳,۷۰۰ arrests for backing the group, with more than ۲,۲۵۰ people formally charged as terrorists.
In response to comments by the broadcaster Adam Boulton that Rooney’s support for Palestine was “anti-Jewish”, Helm wrote: “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action. Sounds like Adam would have all our books swept off the shelves in a jiffy.”
Police said the post was “in the process of being assessed” to determine whether an investigation was required.
Downing Street distanced itself from Helm’s post on Friday, with a spokesperson saying: “These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.”
Helm’s works include a book about the women imprisoned by the Nazis at the Ravensbrück concentration camp, and Loyalty, a play about the Iraq war, inspired by her husband’s decade as the chief of staff to the then prime minister, Tony Blair.
The author, who is writing a book about Gaza, married Powell in ۲۰۰۷. He was appointed in ۲۰۲۴ as a national security adviser under Keir Starmer.
According to government guidance, being married to a suspected or convicted terrorist would normally result in the revocation of security clearance. Under the vetting framework for a job as national security adviser, being married to someone tied to a proscribed terrorist organisation is viewed as creating an automatic, unmitigated national security risk.
Responding to questions about Powell’s position after his wife’s comments, a government spokesperson said: “These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.”
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, a free speech group which supports the right for people to protest peacefully, thanked Helm for “defying this absurdly authoritarian ban”.
“How can Andy Burnham’s government possibly defend this ban in the supreme court next month when his own national security adviser’s wife has openly defied it? This unprecedented attack on free speech in our country is plainly unsustainable,” they said. “We know of ۳۶ people who have been arrested and had their homes raided for similarly expressing support for Palestine Action on social media.
“We hope Sarah will not face the same treatment for standing up for free speech and Palestinian lives. But her defiance further exposes the absurdity of a ban that cannot be enforced against everyone who challenges it. There are simply too many of us who will continue to defy this unjust law until the government is forced to see sense and abandon it.”
However, the Campaign Against Antisemitism called for Helm to “face the full force of the law”.
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A spokesperson said: “This is gobsmacking. Clearly, the police need to investigate and Sarah Helm must face the full force of the law, just like others who appear to express support for any proscribed terrorist organisation.
“But this raises extremely serious questions for Jonathan Powell and the government. Spouses are entitled to independent views, but plainly Mr Powell, who leads on our country’s national security and has been intricately involved in our Middle East diplomacy, must publicly denounce this rhetoric if he is to continue in post.”
A Met Police spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of an X post on Thursday, ۱۵ October referencing Palestine Action. It is in the process of being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.
It comes as hundreds of writers have signed an open letter in support of Rooney, whose books include Normal People and Conversations With Friends, warning that “a country that bans its writers for speaking out is not a free country”.
The letter has been signed by ۴۱۹ novelists, poets, editors and illustrators including Ali Smith, Kamila Shamsie, Robert Macfarlane, Daisy Johnson, Eliza Clark, Jeanette Winterson, Alice Oseman, Derek Landy, Louise O’Neill, AM Dassu and Nikesh Shukla.
The letter states: “As authors, illustrators, poets, and editors, we stand with Sally Rooney and Faber Books, and condemn a government whose actions, and inactions, have led to her books being pulled from sale in the UK.
“Writers already face book bans worldwide and at home. It is unconscionable that a government can now effectively ban a single author for protesting that government’s own conflation of protest with terrorism. What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.”
Rooney said she had taken the decision to withdraw from the UK market with her publisher Faber, after learning that passing earnings on to her for the sale of her books in the UK could constitute a serious criminal offence. In a letter shared with the Guardian, Rooney said she was “wholly prepared to accept the consequences”. Faber will continue to sell Rooney’s books in other countries.
