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Reform’s Danny Kruger has written to Andy Burnham after Sarah Helm, wife of National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, appeared to support Palestine Action in a post on X yesterday. Palestine Action is a proscribed organisation. Read Kruger’s letter below…
“Dear Prime Minister
I am writing in regard to recent activity undertaken by Sarah Helm, the wife of your national security adviser, Jonathan Powell.
On 15 October 2026, Ms Helm, a journalist, published a message on X which stated “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.”
As you will know, and as Jonathan Powell will certainly be aware, Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. It has been an offence for anybody in Britain to display support for this group since July 2025.
I am concerned that Ms Helm appears to have breached the law and alarmed at what influence, if any, she might have on government policy with respect to Israel/Palestine and to the enforcement of the proscription.
I would be grateful if you could please write to me outlining your position on this matter together with an explanation of what steps, if any, you believe it would be appropriate for the police to take against Ms Helm.
Yours sincerely,
Danny Kruger MP”
Heating up…
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has produced a handy table of the Cabinet ministers with the highest benefit claim totals in their constituency. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden coming in second – gulp…
| Name | Government department | Constituency | Total benefit bill (£) | Rank | Benefits per resident (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shabana Mahmood | Home Office | Birmingham Ladywood | 623,912,797 | 3 | 3,738 |
| Pat McFadden | Department for Work and Pensions | Wolverhampton South East | 416,262,052 | 40 | 3,244 |
| Alex Norris | Ministry of Justice | Nottingham North and Kimberley | 389,471,033 | 49 | 3,544 |
| Lucy Powell | Department for Education | Manchester Central | 387,627,903 | 51 | 2,790 |
| Anneliese Midgley | Whips Office (Commons) | Knowsley | 377,937,443 | 59 | 3,815 |
| Miatta Fahnbulleh | Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | Peckham | 365,610,519 | 70 | 3,268 |
| Louise Haigh | Cabinet Office | Sheffield Heeley | 361,328,840 | 72 | 3,249 |
| Stephen Kinnock | Wales Office | Aberafan Maesteg | 342,464,070 | 92 | 3,687 |
| Chris Bryant | Northern Ireland Office | Rhondda and Ogmore | 340,659,394 | 95 | 3,366 |
| Bridget Phillipson | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Houghton and Sunderland South | 333,803,051 | 97 | 3,146 |
| Matthew Pennycook | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Greenwich and Woolwich | 330,606,610 | 103 | 2,673 |
| Angela Eagle | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Wallasey | 320,281,913 | 118 | 3,260 |
| Angela Rayner | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Ashton-under-Lyne | 315,115,965 | 123 | 3,014 |
| Yvette Cooper | Department of Health and Social Care | Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley | 289,328,377 | 161 | 2,750 |
| Lisa Nandy | Department for Culture, Media and Sport | Wigan | 287,948,809 | 162 | 2,638 |
| John Healey | HM Treasury | Rawmarsh and Conisbrough | 285,735,926 | 169 | 2,962 |
| Wes Streeting | Ministry of Defence | Ilford North | 282,252,192 | 175 | 2,272 |
| Ed Miliband | Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | Doncaster North | 280,019,366 | 177 | 2,823 |
| Jonathan Reynolds | Department for Business, Innovation and Trade | Stalybridge and Hyde | 270,523,500 | 196 | 2,707 |
| Hamish Falconer | Cabinet Office; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | Lincoln | 269,473,508 | 198 | 2,256 |
| Ellie Reeves | Attorney General’s Office | Lewisham West and East Dulwich | 263,676,124 | 209 | 2,655 |
| Kanishka Narayan | Cabinet Office; Department for Business, Innovation and Trade | Vale of Glamorgan | 238,920,044 | 251 | 2,446 |
| Heidi Alexander | Department for Transport | Swindon South | 235,036,657 | 263 | 1,997 |
| Andy Burnham | Cabinet Office | Makerfield | 232,259,275 | 269 | 2,203 |
| Emma Reynolds | HM Treasury | Wycombe | 203,869,801 | 330 | 1,815 |
| Sir Alan Campbell | Office of the Leader of the House of Commons | Tynemouth | 193,514,771 | 357 | 1,991 |
| Douglas Alexander | Scotland Office | Lothian East | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total (£) | 8,237,639,940 | ||||
| Average per cabinet minister (£) | 316,832,305 | 2,858 | |||
William Yarwood, campaigns director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, tells Guido:
“It is mind-boggling that the Cabinet is collectively presiding over an £8.2 billion benefit bill in their own backyards. When even Pat McFadden himself has a benefits bill of £400 million in his own constituency it’s clear why the government is struggling to get a grip on out-of-control welfare spending. Ministers cannot keep turning a blind eye to welfare dependency when it is staring them right in the face in their own seats.”
Click below to see the benefit claimants versus the ministers’ majorities. 14 cabinet ministers have PIP Claimants higher than their majority including the Home Secretary, the DWP Secretary, the Education Secretary, the Chancellor, the Health Secretary, the Foreign Secretary and the Housing Secretary. Crikey…
DCMS minister Ian Murray responded to a written question from Tory Shadow Exchequer Secretary James Wild on Labour’s plans to regulate the internet:
“As set out in the Media Green Paper ‘Watch this Space’, the Government is exploring options to require social media platforms, as well as potentially video sharing platforms, to ensure trusted news content is prominent and discoverable within user interfaces. This will ensure people can access high-quality, trustworthy journalism which is essential to our democracy and to countering the prevalence of mis and disinformation.
The Government has not yet determined what criteria may be used to define a trustworthy news provider. The Department will continue engaging stakeholders, assessing evidence and analysing responses as part of the Green Paper consultation to inform the design of a news prominence regime. A starting point for any criteria may be the recognised news publisher definition in the Online Safety Act 2023, although no decisions have been made. Any approach will protect freedom of expression, media freedom and editorial independence.
With regard to representations from, and engagement with, international counterparts, the Department has engaged with international partners in order to understand their perspectives and learn from international best practice.”
Nandy wants the government to control social media algorithms, but they still have no idea what they want to promote. This will go badly…
Saying the quiet part out loud…
Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru MS and Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education, has reposted a Question Time clip of George Monbiot saying more funding and powers is “restitution” for centuries of colonialism from England. Both a tired and also increasingly pointless argument from the old Jacobin…
The Plaid minister also said:
“Asking for a fair funding deal for Wales is not begging but reparation for centuries of exploitation!”
Is that the official Welsh Government line?
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”