The Crillon Ball is described by Tatler as the “world’s most glamorous debutante ball”. Georgie Robertson came out to society in a £6,000 gown, alongside Princess Diana’s niece Lady Kitty Spencer, and boasted afterwards of a “fairytale event in which the aristocracy rub sequinned shoulder pads with the celebritocracy”.
Fast forward to 2025 and the 32-year-old daughter of Kathy Lette, the author, and Geoffrey Robertson KC, the human rights lawyer, has swapped pearls for protest.
The former Labour press officer under Jeremy Corbyn was helping Palestine Action with its press coverage as it fought being proscribed by the government in court.
Her spell volunteering for the pro-Palestinian protest group is the latest twist in a life that her mother joked went “from one extreme to the other, from Marxism to Marie Antoinette”.
In an article written after the Crillon Ball in 2009, Robertson said the weekend in Paris was “an endless flurry of hot hair rollers, make-up, trying on diamonds, couture fittings and fashion shoots” — which included posing for Tatler.
She recounted having “shared giggles and gossip” with Clint Eastwood’s daughter, an Indian princess, Lady Kitty Spencer and Angelica Hicks, the great-granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten.
Other society outings included the Elle Style Awards and the UK premiere of Blue Jasmine, starring Cate Blanchett, in 2013.
Robertson was schooled at the private Queen’s College in central London. She stood for election as women’s officer for the London Young Labour committee, pledging to “work with grassroots women’s campaigns to collectively organise against patriarchy and all other forms of oppression”.
She went on to work in Corbyn’s office when he was leader of the opposition, before being elected as a Labour councillor in Camden, north London.
After Sir Keir Starmer became leader, the Labour Party pursued Robertson and several other Corbyn-era staff with legal action, accusing them of leaking a report about antisemitism in the party to the press. The case was dropped in 2024.
Social media shows Robertson continues to mix with celebrities such as Tim Minchin, the comic and composer, and Kylie Minogue.
She also attended the Cannes film festival.
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Weeks later, during a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice as Palestine Action fought its proscription, she posted a photo on Instagram showing Mr Justice Chamberlain being addressed by a barrister acting for the group, with the caption: “Nearly 9 hours so far, waiting with baited breath.” It is a criminal offence to take photographs inside a courtroom.
Less than 24 hours later, she continued to brief journalists on the activities of Defend Our Juries, a left-wing pressure group that has launched a campaign of civil disobedience against Palestine Action’s proscription, calling it an “Orwellian nightmare”.
The campaign has led to the arrest of dozens of protesters for holding signs that read “I support Palestine Action”.
An escalating series of protests is being supported by Palestine Action’s founder Huda Ammori, who told 1,000 supporters that organised civil disobedience “will make the ban unenforceable”.
Protest leader’s contempt of court
Defend Our Juries was set up by Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer who was debarred for leaking court documents.
• Police defend arrest of 83-year-old Palestine Action activist
Over the last two Saturdays, police have made over 100 arrests under terror laws after the group co-ordinated sit-in protests around the country. Dozens more are expected on Saturday in Parliament Square in London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester and Truro in Cornwall.
The protesters, who held signs that read “I support Palestine Action”, risked prison as the direct action group was banned under the Terrorism Act from July 5.
Crosland said he hoped the protests will “expose the absurdity” of the proscription.
In a briefing for activists taking part in the protests last week, Crosland said the ban “is like something out of George Orwell, it’s a mad insult to the intelligence of us all”. He added: “As long as we turn up in numbers we expose this.”
Crosland set up Defend Our Juries to protest the treatment of environmental activists in trials and to push jurors to acquit defendants according to their conscience.
He was called to the bar in 1994 and worked as a criminal defence barrister, which included representing death row inmates on appeal in New Orleans.
He became deputy director of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and head of cyber and information law at the National Crime Agency, which replaced it. He was then head of legal at the National Criminal Intelligence Service.
He later became director of Plan B, an environmental campaign group. In 2020, Crosland was found guilty of contempt of court and fined £5,000 for leaking an embargoed Supreme Court ruling about the third Heathrow runway on Twitter.
Before his contempt hearing, Crosland said: “If fighting for my children’s lives makes me a criminal, then so be it.” The judges ruled there is “no such thing as a justifiable contempt of court”.
In 2023, Crosland was disbarred by an independent disciplinary tribunal, following charges of professional misconduct brought by the Bar Standards Board.
The group claims protesters who are on remand or in prison for causing a public nuisance or criminal damage are “political prisoners” and has previously counted Chris Packham and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall among its supporters.
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A notable protest was held outside the appeal at the High Court in London in January of 16 Just Stop Oil activists who had shut down the M25. About 1,000 Defend Our Juries activists blocked the street.
An open letter co-ordinated by the group was signed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as well as Sandi Toksvig, the television presenter, and Danny Boyle, the director.
The group was also critical when courts barred defendants from making political arguments in their defence, claiming this kept “the truth” from jurors.
From green issues to Gaza
When climate protests folded under the weight of new police powers and tough sentencing, Defend Our Juries turned its attention towards Gaza.
Defend Our Juries was associatied with Palestine Action before its ban, having signed a “statement of solidarity” in November last year.
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The protests over the last two weekends have been organised on the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram, with online briefings given to hundreds of potential participants on Zoom.
Each person is directed towards carefully prepared briefing notes online, and handed signs and so-called “bust cards” with solicitors’ details in case of arrest.
Those involved in the protests include activists who were repeatedly arrested in the Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil campaigns.
