LONDON: Police said on Saturday a social media post by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser backing banned activist group Palestine Action did not merit a criminal investigation.

Sarah Helm, a journalist and author who is the wife of Jonathan Powell, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s national security adviser, posted on X: “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action”, an activist group banned by the UK government last year.

A spokesperson for the capital’s police force said specialist officers had looked at the post and ruled it “did not meet the criminal threshold” and “no further police action will be taken”. Helm was commenting after publisher Faber said this week its Irish author Sally Rooney cannot sell her books in the UK because of her support for Palestine Action, which it is now illegal in the UK to support or finance.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2026