Sarah Helm is the wife of the UK’s National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell. It has recently come to light that Sarah Helm has made statements that seem to be favourable to both Hamas and the the now banned ‘Palestine Action’ group.
Now there is nothing wrong with husbands and wives having different political interests in the normal every day world but when you get to those who are at very high levels in a nation’s politics or administration then this becomes a public rather than a private issue. It’s especially a public issue when the politics expressed by the partner of a senior government official is very ‘out there’, such as supporting banned terror and disruption groups.
The Guardian said:
“The UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, is under pressure to distance himself from a comment made by his wife, the award-winning writer Sarah Helm, in support of Palestine Action.
The post was made in defence of the critically acclaimed Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who said she had been forced to pull her books from shelves in the UK after pledging proceeds from their sales to Palestine Action.
Helm, a former Sunday Times journalist and diplomatic editor at the Independent who spent many years covering the Middle East, wrote on X indicating support for the direct action group, which was proscribed last year.
Under terror laws, this could constitute a criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The ban has so far resulted in more than 3,700 arrests for backing the group, with more than 2,250 people formally charged as terrorists.
In response to comments by the broadcaster Adam Boulton that Rooney’s support for Palestine 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.”
Police said the post was “in the process of being assessed” to determine whether an investigation was required.”
Whether you are supportive of the proscription of ‘Palestine Action’ or not is neither here nor there in this instance. I see the proscription as having both good and bad outcomes. It’s good in so far as the State has made it clear that the violence that this group engages in puts it beyond the pale. It’s at least some window dressing to make it look as if the Government is serious about tackling the Jew and West hating nutjobs that have almost miraculously appeared on Britain’s streets since the October 7th Pogrom. However on the negative side this bunch of anti-Israel and anti-Jew fanatics has since become a magnet for all those with a martyr complex who are now all clamouring like bargain hunters at the Boxing Day sales, to claim affinity with ‘Palestine Action’ in order to get nicked for a cause. It’s attracted common sense challenged Quakers, far leftists, radical Muslims and the wealthy elderly, probably former public sector workers, who might be miffed that they missed out on the Big Ruck at Grunwick in the 1970’s.
What’s important in this story is not whether or not a particularly nasty bunch of Pally wankers should be proscribed, but what will happen to Sarah Helm? It’s pretty clear that the Establishment is more than happy to nick people on terrorist charges for doing the Spartacus thing and standing up saying ‘I’m Palestine Action’. There’s even been some deluded followers of these fraggles nicked just for holding up a sign saying ‘Palestine Action’.
Will Sarah Helm be treated in a similar way? Will she be getting a knock on the door from London’s finest two tier coppers? Or will, due to her proximity to the heart of Government via her husband, the files and other evidence related to this case be mysteriously lost? Or might there be some ruse to claim that her offending didn’t reach the threshold for prosecution be pulled out of the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service’s hats?
If the Met find some ludicrous excuse to not nick Sarah Helm and the CPS not charge her with giving support to ‘Palestine Action’ then it will be a massive two tier policing scandal which can be added to the growing pile of other two tier policing scandals. The Met are going to be between a rock and a hard place here. They can do the bidding of the Government who must really want this scandal to go away and find a way to not proceed, which might make their relationship with the Government easier, but that will leave them another two tier justice situaiton that will further erode public trust in the police.
My bet is the Met and the CPS will find a way to either stymie this inquiry relatively quickly or drop the case once the furore has died down in a couple of months. Whether this hot potato is dropped quickly or after some delay, I reckon we are in for another episode of two tier policing.
Links
Guardian story of Sarah Helm
Grunwick Dispute
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