Arab News | Wife of UK PM top adviser in row over Palestine Action post

LONDON: Downing Street Friday distanced itself from comments by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser who voiced support for banned activist group Palestine Action.

Sarah Helm, a journalist and author and wife of Jonathan Powell, 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 terrorist by the UK government last year.

Helm was commenting after publisher Faber said Wednesday 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.

Helm’s X post criticized another British journalist 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.”

A government spokeswoman said of Helm’s post: “These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote 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.

Asked by AFP for comment, London’s Metropolitan Police did not immediately react.

Helm is a journalist who has written for The Sunday Times and The Independent newspapers.

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 Conservative prime minister Keir Starmer.

Helm’s X account posts about international politics and has over 1,000 followers including Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori.

Britain’s Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal against the Palestine Action ban from Ammori next month.

Palestine Action’s stated goal on its website is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.”

Its proscription, which has led to over 3,500 arrests at UK protests, came after a series of high-profile stunts against the war in Gaza, including targeting weapons factories belonging to Israeli arms group Elbit.