Downing Street's response

Jonathan Powell, the UK's national security adviser, is under pressure over the Jonathan Powell Palestine Action row: his wife, the award-winning writer Sarah Helm, posted a comment on X in support of Palestine Action - the direct action group proscribed last year. Downing Street moved on Friday to separate the government from the post, with a spokesperson saying: "These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity."

The post and what it said

Helm's post defended novelist Sally Rooney, who said she had been forced to pull her books from shelves in the UK after pledging proceeds of sales to Palestine Action. Responding to a comment by Adam Boulton that Rooney's support 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."

Helm is a former Sunday Times journalist and was diplomatic editor at the Independent, covering the Middle East for many years. She has written a book about women imprisoned at Ravensbrück and Loyalty, a play about the Iraq war inspired by her husband's decade as Tony Blair's chief of staff. She is writing a book about Gaza; the couple married in 2007, and Powell was appointed national security adviser under Keir Starmer in 2024.

Vetting rules for the adviser's post

The post has drawn attention to the rules governing Powell's role, which set a demanding standard for close family ties:

• Government guidance says marriage to a suspected or convicted terrorist would normally result in the revocation of security clearance.
• Under the vetting framework for the national security adviser, being married to someone tied to a proscribed organisation is viewed as creating an automatic, unmitigated national security risk.

Pressure from campaign groups and police assessment

Campaign groups have taken opposite sides. The Campaign Against Antisemitism called for Helm to 'face the full force of the law' and said Powell must publicly denounce this rhetoric if he is to continue in post. Defend Our Juries, which opposes the ban, said 36 people had been arrested and had their homes raided for similar social media support of Palestine Action. It also asked how the government could defend the ban in the supreme court next month, thanking Helm for 'defying this absurdly authoritarian ban'.

The scale of enforcement against supporters of the group since the ban is substantial:

• More than 3,700 arrests have been made for backing the group.
• More than 2,250 people have been formally charged as terrorists.
• Supporting a proscribed organisation under terror laws carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

The Met Police said the post, made on Thursday 15 October, was 'in the process of being assessed' to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.