Sarah Helm backs Palestine Action after Boulton row erupts

Author Sarah Helm, married to National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, has appeared to back Palestine Action in a public post supporting Sally Rooney after criticism from Adam Boulton.

Helm wrote that God help authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action, adding that it sounded as if Adam would have all their books swept off the shelves in a jiffy. The remark placed the wife of one of the state’s most senior security officials on the side of a group whose methods and aims sit far outside ordinary democratic protest.

Palestine Action has made its name through direct action against British targets linked, in its view, to Israel. For the spouse of the National Security Adviser to voice solidarity with writers who support that group raises plain questions about judgment at the top of government. Jonathan Powell’s role exists to protect the realm, not to supply domestic cover for radical campaigns.

Adam Boulton’s criticism of Rooney triggered the exchange. Helm’s response did not distance herself from Palestine Action; it wrapped the group in the same protective language as Palestine itself and cast scrutiny as a threat to authors. That is a political choice, not a slip of the tongue, and it lands differently when the household involved sits next to the heart of national security.

Ministers and advisers cannot police every relative’s opinion, yet the public is entitled to expect basic care from those closest to the machinery of state. A larger, more complacent establishment has grown used to treating such moments as private matters. They are not. When the wife of the National Security Adviser lines up with supporters of Palestine Action, the country notices.

The episode, reported by Guido Fawkes, leaves a simple test for Downing Street and the security apparatus: either this is shrugged off as literary free speech, or someone draws a clear line between the British state and a group that thrives on confrontation with it. Voters will decide which answer looks like seriousness.

Original source: Guido Fawkes