Met Police say adviser’s wife post on Palestine Action does not warrant investigation
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The Metropolitan Police has opted not to investigate a post by Sarah Helm, wife of national security adviser Jonathan Powell, even though it expressed support for authors backing Palestine Action, a group banned as a terrorist organisation after a July 2025 parliamentary vote. Critics argue the decision shows weak enforcement and a troubling tolerance for extremism.
The Metropolitan Police announced that a post on X by Sarah Helm, an author and journalist married to national security adviser Jonathan Powell, does not meet the criminal threshold for a terrorism-related offence and will not be investigated further. The police had earlier said the post was under assessment, after public concern over the content of the message.
Helm’s message, posted on Thursday, expressed support for authors who back Palestine Action, a group proscribed as a terrorist organisation after a parliamentary vote in July 2025. The post read, “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.” The statement has been widely seen by critics as crossing a serious line by appearing to sympathise with a banned extremist group.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British NGO, described the post as “gobsmacking” and called for a police investigation, but a government spokesperson clarified that Helm’s comments do not represent the government. The reaction from campaigners reflects growing frustration that explicit support for a proscribed group is not being treated with sufficient seriousness.
The proscription of Palestine Action follows a Court of Appeal ruling in June that upheld the ban. Amnesty International reports that more than 3,500 people have been arrested in the UK for alleged support of the group since the ban was imposed, underscoring the scale of the controversy and the continuing need for firm action.