UK policing minister met insurance firm targeted by Palestine Action weeks before ban

A Home Office minister met representatives of an insurance firm targeted by Palestine Action weeks before the department moved to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation, British government transparency releases reveal.

According to the release, Allianz UK and then-Minister for Policing Diana Johnson met on 3 June 2025 to discuss “protest activity and destruction of property”.

Allianz, the world’s largest insurance firm, has been repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action which accuses it over its alleged financial ties to Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems.

Demonstrations by the group against Allianz included a coordinated effort in January 2025, when activists defaced 15 of the firm’s regional offices across the UK, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands with red paint.

Commenting on the group’s actions in January, Allianz UK said: “We respect everyone’s right to have and express their opinion.

“However, we have zero tolerance for any criminal behaviour that threatens the safety or security of our people, property and business. Our business operations and service to customers and clients remain unaffected.”

Yvette Cooper, the then-home secretary, first announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on 23 June 2025, less than three weeks after the meeting between Johnson, her deputy, and Allianz UK.

Cooper’s announcement came days after Palestine Action activists broke into an RAF base and sprayed red paint on two planes.

Cooper told parliament the group had a “a long history of unacceptable criminal damage” and said that proscription represented “a legitimate response to the threat posed by Palestine Action”.

Legislation to ban the group came into force on 5 July amid condemnation from human rights watchdogs including Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

The group’s proscription as a terrorist organisation places it in the same legal category as organisations including the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda.

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Since the ban came into force, more than 1,500 people have been arrested under counterterrorism legislation that prohibits expressing support for banned groups.

This includes over 800 arrested in a single day at a protest against the ban in London’s Parliament Square on 6 September, organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries.

Protests continued at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday, where another 100 people were arrested for expressing support for the group, according to Defend Our Juries.

Many arrested at protests against the group’s ban have held signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

Six spokespeople from Defend Our Juries, including former government lawyer Tim Crosland, were arrested in dawn raids by counterterrorism police on 2 September 2025.

Commenting on Johnson's meeting with Allianz, a Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: "The meeting between Allianz and a government minister on protest activity, just weeks before Palestine Action was proscribed, demonstrates the true intentions behind this absurd ban. It was done to protect the companies profiting from genocide, over the rights of British citizens."

The ban is the subject of ongoing legal action, with the government seeking to overturn a court ruling granting a judicial review to the co-founder of Palestine Action Huda Ammori to challenge the group's proscription.

Lobbying campaign

Johnson has previously been among British and Scottish government ministers reported to have been approached by a leading arms industry trade organisation, the ADS Group, as part of a lobbying campaign which called for authorities to take a firmer stance on Palestine Action protesters.

In one letter dated May 2025, released following freedom of information requests by The Ferret, ADS urged Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance to “consider proscription or prosecution for Terrorism Act offences” for supporters of the now banned group.

The letter mentioned that ADS had also “written to the UK policing minister, Dame Diana Johnson, regarding the need for a structured nationwide response” to Palestine Action and was “due to meet with her shortly to discuss this further”.

No meeting with ADS is declared in Johnson’s meeting logs, which cover up until the end of June 2025.

The Home Office stated that ADS had “nothing whatsoever to do with the decision” to proscribe Palestine Action on 1 July. “The suggestion that the decision was influenced by any private company is categorically false,” a spokesperson said.

The Home Office previously issued a similar statement in regard to queries about ADS's lobbying campaign.

Allianz UK declined to comment.

Johnson now serves as Minister of State for Employment in the Department of Work and Pensions following a cabinet reshuffle earlier this month.