Tuesday, 20 October 2026 — MROnline
Best-selling and award-winning Irish novelist Sally Rooney. (Photo: Video Grab)Key Takeaways
- Police are assessing a post by author Sarah Helm, wife of UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell, expressing support for Palestine Action.
- Downing Street distanced itself from Helm’s comments, while the Campaign Against Antisemitism demanded police action and a public denunciation from Powell.
- An open letter signed by 419 writers and publishing professionals supports Sally Rooney, whose books are being withdrawn from the UK market.
British police are assessing a social media post by author Sarah Helm expressing support for Palestine Action, as pressure mounts on her husband, UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell, to publicly distance himself from her remarks.
Helm made the comments while defending Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who said she had been forced to withdraw her books from the UK market after pledging proceeds from their sales to the proscribed direct action group, the Guardian reported Friday.
Responding on X to broadcaster Adam Boulton’s characterization of Rooney’s support for Palestine as “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.
The Metropolitan Police said it was assessing the post, without announcing a formal investigation.
“We have been made aware of an X post on Thursday, 15 October referencing Palestine Action. It is in the process of being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required,” a spokesperson said.
Expressing support for the group, which was proscribed last year, could constitute an offense under terrorism legislation carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the ban has resulted in more than 3,700 arrests for backing the group, with more than 2,250 people formally charged.
Helm, a former Sunday Times journalist and diplomatic editor at the Independent, spent years covering the Middle East and is writing a book about Gaza. Her previous work includes a book about women imprisoned at the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück and a play about the Iraq war.
Downing Street Distances Itself
Downing Street responded by emphasizing that Helm does not speak for the government.
“These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity,” a spokesperson said.
Powell, who married Helm in 2007, previously served as Tony Blair’s chief of staff and was appointed national security adviser in 2024.
The Guardian reported that government security-vetting guidance could raise questions about clearance where a spouse is suspected or convicted of terrorism-related offenses. Police have not announced that Helm is under investigation or that she has been charged.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism nevertheless demanded that she “face the full force of the law” and called on Powell to denounce her comments.
“Spouses are entitled to independent views, but plainly Mr Powell, who leads on our country’s national security and has been intricately involved in our Middle East diplomacy, must publicly denounce this rhetoric if he is to continue in post,” a spokesperson said.
Defend Our Juries, which supports the right to peaceful protest, thanked Helm for “defying this absurdly authoritarian ban.”
The group said it knew of 36 people who had been arrested and whose homes had been raided over similar expressions of support on social media.
“We hope Sarah will not face the same treatment for standing up for free speech and Palestinian lives,” its spokesperson said.
But her defiance further exposes the absurdity of a ban that cannot be enforced against everyone who challenges it.
Writers Rally behind Rooney
The controversy comes as 419 novelists, poets, editors and illustrators signed an open letter supporting Rooney and her publisher, Faber, warning that the government’s restrictions threaten freedom of expression.
Signatories include Ali Smith, Kamila Shamsie, Robert Macfarlane, Jeanette Winterson, Alice Oseman, Daisy Johnson and Nikesh Shukla.
“As authors, illustrators, poets, and editors, we stand with Sally Rooney and Faber Books, and condemn a government whose actions, and inactions, have led to her books being pulled from sale in the UK,” the letter states.
The signatories challenged the use of terrorism legislation against expressions of political solidarity.
It is unconscionable that a government can now effectively ban a single author for protesting that government’s own conflation of protest with terrorism. What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.
Rooney said she and Faber decided to withdraw her books from the UK market after learning that transferring earnings to her from British sales could constitute a serious criminal offense.
The decision affects the UK sale of work by the author of Normal People and Conversations with Friends. Faber will continue selling her books elsewhere.
In a letter shared with the Guardian, Rooney said she was “wholly prepared to accept the consequences.”
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