The key facts
- Sarah Helm backed a letter demanding the ban on Palestine Action be lifted and supported Sally Rooney
- Police closed the examination of her posts, finding no criminal offence
- In Parliament, questions were asked about whether her publications were considered during Powell's vetting; the consulate in Jerusalem was downgraded to a mission
Call to lift the ban
Writer Sarah Helm, wife of the UK prime minister's national security adviser Jonathan Powell, called for the ban on the Palestine Action movement to be lifted. On Monday she wrote 'Where do I sign?' in response to a letter demanding the ban be lifted and supporting Irish writer Sally Rooney and her publisher Faber, who decided to stop supplying her books to British retailers. Rooney had earlier been warned that her plan to donate sales proceeds could be considered a criminal offence. Earlier, Helm, a former Middle East correspondent for The Independent, wrote 'God help us, authors supporting Palestine and Palestine Action' in response to criticism of Rooney.
Police closed the examination
Police said over the weekend that they had closed an investigation into Helm's earlier post, deciding to take no action as it did not reach the criminal threshold. Palestine Action was banned in the UK in 2025 after an attack on a British airbase; expressing support for the group is a criminal offence. According to The National, more than 3,500 people have been arrested for supporting the movement, mostly for placards at demonstrations.
Questions in Parliament
On Tuesday, parliamentarians asked whether Helm's posts were taken into account during Powell's vetting for his post. Baroness Ludford in the House of Lords asked: 'Were Sarah Helm's posts ignored or deemed acceptable?' Conservative peer Lord Callanan mentioned other posts by Helm in which she claimed her husband was not involved in the ban decision, and asked how she could know this if 'none of us knows who in the government was involved in that decision'. Baroness Fiona Twycross stated that Helm does not represent the government and emphasised the importance of distinguishing between civil servants and their families.
Criticism of Helm's posts
Former Foreign Office employee Ben Judah called Helm's posts after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 'truly shocking'. In response to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's words about Israel's right to self-defence after 'terrorists struck at the very heart of Israel, taking and killing innocent women and children', Helm wrote that von der Leyen 'once again spouts empty dangerous lightweight clichés on a subject she clearly does not understand'.
Diplomatic context
Last month the UK imposed sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the Israeli government is turning a blind eye to the 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians. Earlier this month Powell visited Israel, trying to persuade it not to close the British consulate general in Jerusalem — an institution opened in 1838 that handles relations with the Palestinians of the city, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and provides them with consular services. According to The National, no agreement was reached: the consulate was downgraded to a mission, and staff cut from 30 people to a few. The compromise made it possible to avoid a mirror expulsion of Israeli diplomats from Britain.
