Powell’s wife called for Braverman to be stripped of her passport

The wife of Britain’s national security adviser said Suella Braverman should be stripped of her British passport and forced to cross the Channel on a small boat. Sarah Helm, Jonathan Powell’s wife, has faced criticism after being accused of expressing support for Palestine Action , including calling for the proscribed terrorist group to be “unbanned”. Mr Powell faced calls to resign after Ms Helm, a former Middle East correspondent for The Independent, wrote on X: “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.”

In another social media post from October 2022, seen by The Telegraph, Ms Helm wrote: “Suella Braverman should be stripped of her British passport, go to Turkey, join refugees on a boat to Kos, find her way to Calais, join refugees on a boat to England, listen to them too, then maybe she will understand this epic human tragedy. But I doubt it.” The post on X was in response to another post criticising Ms Braverman, a former Conservative home secretary, for saying that not “all refugees” coming to Britain were “in distress”.

Ms Braverman, who is now Reform UK ’s education spokesman, told The Telegraph the language was “hysterical and disgusting” and “totally inappropriate for the wife of a national security advisor”. The Conservatives have called for “an immediate re-vetting of Jonathan Powell” and transparency over what sort of vetting he has received, with Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, telling The Telegraph that “the public deserve to know the truth”.

Another post by Ms Helm from June 2020 appears to joke about Boris Johnson’s aeroplane being “shot out of the sky”. It said: “Fears among PM’s security folk that painting his plane with Union Jack colours risks it being identified and shot out of the sky when over hostile land – so some say – paint on!” Ms Helm’s social media feed also displays posts criticising Sir Keir Starmer, who appointed her husband as national security adviser in November 2024.

During the 2024 general election campaign, Ms Helm said Sir Keir “has utterly failed to find a voice” on the conflict in Gaza, accusing him of “cowardice and fear”. Ms Helm, whose husband was Tony Blair’s chief of staff, has also publicly recalled overhearing conversations between the then prime minister and George Bush on the eve of the Iraq war. She used the conversation to write her play, Loyalty, which was performed at Hampstead Theatre in 2011 and tells a “‘fictionalised memoir’ of life with Jonathan Powell”, according to a Guardian review .

Ms Kearns, criticising the vetting process for Mr Powell, said: “It beggars belief that a man whose most sensitive conversations ended up as material for his wife’s stage play was ever waved through the highest level of vetting. “Labour has learned nothing from the cover-up over Peter Mandelson’s vetting , and once again it expects the public to take a security clearance on trust when the warning signs are clear for all to see.” Last week, friends of the national security adviser told The Telegraph he had been “talking about leaving for a long time” and was considering quitting because of exhaustion and stress.

The Government has distanced itself from Ms Helm. A spokesman said: “These views are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity.” Representatives of Ms Helm were contacted for comment.