{"id":648584,"date":"2026-10-16T21:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/648584\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:12:13","slug":"uk-national-security-adviser-under-pressure-over-wifes-comment-on-supporting-palestine-action-palestine-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/648584\/","title":{"rendered":"UK national security adviser under pressure over wife\u2019s comment on supporting Palestine Action | Palestine Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, is under pressure to distance himself from a comment made by his wife, the award-winning writer Sarah Helm<\/a>, in support of Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in the UK after pledging proceeds from their sales to Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Under terror laws, this could constitute a criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The ban has so far resulted in more than 3,700 arrests for backing the group, with more than 2,250 people formally charged as terrorists.<\/p>\n

In response to comments by the broadcaster Adam Boulton that Rooney\u2019s support for Palestine was \u201canti-Jewish\u201d, Helm wrote: \u201cGod help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action<\/a>. Sounds like Adam would have all our books swept off the shelves in a jiffy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said the post was \u201cin the process of being assessed\u201d to determine whether an investigation was required.<\/p>\n

Downing Street distanced itself from Helm\u2019s post on Friday, with a spokesperson saying: \u201cThese views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helm\u2019s works include a book about the women imprisoned by the Nazis at the Ravensbr\u00fcck concentration camp<\/a>, and Loyalty, a play about the Iraq war<\/a>, inspired by her husband\u2019s decade as the chief of staff to the then prime minister, Tony Blair.<\/p>\n

The author, who is writing a book about Gaza, married Powell in 2007. He was appointed in 2024 as a national security adviser under Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Powell. Photograph: Leon Neal\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Responding to questions about Powell\u2019s position after his wife\u2019s comments, a government spokesperson said: \u201cThese views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, a free speech group which supports the right for people to protest peacefully, thanked Helm for \u201cdefying this absurdly authoritarian ban\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can Andy Burnham\u2019s government possibly defend this ban in the supreme court next month<\/a> when his own national security adviser\u2019s wife has openly defied it? This unprecedented attack on free speech in our country is plainly unsustainable,\u201d they said. \u201cWe know of 36 people who have been arrested and had their homes raided for similarly expressing support for Palestine Action on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the Campaign Against Antisemitism called for Helm to \u201cface the full force of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

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A spokesperson said: \u201cThis 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this raises extremely serious questions for Jonathan Powell<\/a> and the government. Spouses are entitled to independent views, but plainly Mr Powell, who leads on our country\u2019s national security and has been intricately involved in our Middle East diplomacy, must publicly denounce this rhetoric if he is to continue in post.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Met Police spokesperson said: \u201cWe have been made aware of an X post on Thursday, 15 October referencing Palestine Action. It is in the process of being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.<\/p>\n

Sally Rooney has been supported in her stance by an open letter signed by hundreds of writers. Photograph: Kalpesh Lathigra\/ Faber<\/p>\n

Hundreds of writers have signed an open letter in support of Rooney, whose books include Normal People<\/a> and Conversations With Friends<\/a>, warning that \u201ca country that bans its writers for speaking out is not a free country\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter has been signed by 419 novelists, poets, editors and illustrators including Ali Smith, Kamila Shamsie, Robert Macfarlane, Daisy Johnson, Eliza Clark, Jeanette Winterson, Alice Oseman, Derek Landy, Louise O\u2019Neill, AM Dassu and Nikesh Shukla.<\/p>\n

The letter states: \u201cAs authors, illustrators, poets, and editors, we stand with Sally Rooney<\/a> and Faber Books, and condemn a government whose actions, and inactions, have led to her books being pulled from sale in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWriters 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\u2019s own conflation of protest with terrorism. What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rooney said she had made 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 \u201cwholly prepared to accept the consequences\u201d. Faber will continue to sell Rooney\u2019s books in other countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, is under pressure to distance himself from a comment made by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-648584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}