This is absolutely incredible.
The partner of Britain’s National Security Adviser has publicly backed Palestine Action.
That’s an organisation which has been - outrageously - proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the government.
We’re discussing here a post by Sarah Helm, who is the partner of Jonathan Powell, who was Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff and the government’s National Security Advisor since 2024.
Of course, partners have their own minds and are entitled to their own opinions.
But it is beyond astonishing that the partner of the National Security Adviser has offered support for an organisation proscribed as terrorists - by the government of that National Security Adviser.
The National Security Adviser’s purview, if it doesn’t need spelling out, includes anti-terrorism. And of course Palestine Action - ludicrously! - falls under his purview.
Indeed, his government’s legislation means that his own wife now faces the potential prospect of being arrested, charged, tried - and even imprisoned.
It has now been reported that the Metropolitan Police are assessing her post as potential support for a banned group.
Thousands have been arrested for holding placards supporting Palestine Action and opposing genocide - and the legislation sets out a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
This episode underlines just how outrageous and absurd the government’s legislation is.
Here’s what happened. I posted about the former Sky News presenter Adam Boulton defaming the Irish author Sally Rooney - and the Irish people as a whole.
Rooney has been forced to withdraw her books from sale in the UK over her support for Palestine Action. She is already unable to visit the country because of the threat of arrest.
Adam Boulton suggested Rooney had an “anti-Jewish stance” - and suggested this was representative of the Irish people more widely. He seems not to understand that Ireland’s own history of suffering murderous colonial rule at the hands of the British has helped drive a natural sense of solidarity with Palestinians.
Sarah Helm then shared my post, adding:
“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.”
Again, expressing support for Palestine Action is a criminal offence under British law.
At least 3,630 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 for suspected support of Palestine Action. 632 have been charged.
Those arrested include Margaret Owen OBE, a 94-year-old Jewish human rights barrister; Ursula ‘La’ Pethick, an 89 year old retired psychotherapist, Reverend Sue Parfitt, an 83-year-old retired Anglican priest, and Deborah Hinton OBE, an 81-year-old former magistrate.
Real menaces to society, I think we can all agree.
The real outrage is that Israel has committed the crime of crimes - genocide - armed and facilitated by Western states, including our own government.
It is those who oppose this abomination who have faced being threatened, deplatformed, sacked, arrested, imprisoned and deported - rather than the politicians who facilitated it.
Solidarity, of course, with Sarah Helm. Obviously I don’t want her to be arrested, just as I don’t want anyone to be persecuted by the state for opposing genocide.
But honestly, if the wife of the government’s National Security Adviser is arrested for opposing the proscription of Palestine Action - it could not better illustrate the outrageous absurdity of the law.
And indeed let’s quote Defend Our Juries, who have led the struggle against the proscription of Palestine Action.
Their spokesperson says:
“Thank you to Sarah Helm for defying this absurdly authoritarian ban on Palestine Action. The ban has led to more than 3,700 arrests of priests, pensioners and peaceful protesters for holding cardboard signs, and is now driving the books of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time off the shelves of British bookshops.
“How can Andy Burnham’s government possibly defend this ban in the Supreme Court next month when his own national security adviser’s wife has openly defied it? This unprecedented attack on free speech in our country is plainly unsustainable.
“We know of 36 people who have been arrested and had their homes raided for similarly expressing support for Palestine Action on social media. We hope Sarah will not face the same treatment for standing up for free speech and Palestinian lives. But her defiance further exposes the absurdity of a ban that cannot be enforced against everyone who challenges it. There are simply too many of us who will continue to defy this unjust law until the Government is forced to see sense and abandon it.”
We all know how this ends. The judgement of history will be savage.
The question has always been - will that be too late for the Palestinian people.
It may also be too late for Andy Burnham and Labour