British police drop probe into post by national security adviser wife

The Metropolitan Police will take no further action against Sarah Helm, a journalist and author married to British national security adviser Jonathan Powell, after she posted a comment online about Palestine Action. Helm had posted on social media platform X: "God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action." The Guardian and The Times of Israel reported that the police assessed the post and decided it did not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation. [1][4]

The police review came after accusations that Helm supported Palestine Action, a direct action protest network. Reports from Sky News and The Independent confirmed that her post had been undergoing assessment by law enforcement officials after placing the national security adviser under political pressure. [3][5]

Palestine Action was founded in 2020 by Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard as a direct action network focused on disrupting entities linked to Israeli policies and arms supplies. Under the Terrorism Act 2000, the British government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group in 2025, making public support or material assistance for the organisation a criminal offence in the United Kingdom. [6][7]

The scrutiny over public support for Palestine Action follows earlier legal complications for high-profile cultural figures. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Irish author Sally Rooney withdrew her books from British sales because anti-terrorism laws prevented her publisher from remitting royalties after she expressed support for the banned group. [2][8]