No further action against government adviser's wife over Palestine Action post, police say

Police say no further action will be taken against the wife of the government's national security adviser after she posted on social media referencing Palestine Action.

Sarah Helm, who is married to Jonathan Powell, wrote on X on Thursday: "God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action."

She was responding to a discussion about the author Sally Rooney, whose novels will not be supplied to booksellers in the UK following her announcement that she intends to use her royalties to support the proscribed organisation.

On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said Helm's post was "assessed by specialist officers and it was determined that it did not meet the criminal threshold".

On Friday, the Met Police had said it was "in the process of being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required" after it was "made aware of an X post on Thursday, 15 October referencing Palestine Action".

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025. Support of the group is a criminal offence and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Best-selling author Rooney said she would donate earnings from her books to the group, which has a stated goal of "ending global participation in Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime".

As a result, Rooney's publisher, Faber, determined it could not sell her novels, including Normal People and Conversations with Friends, in the UK.