NHS deal with AI firm Palantir called into question after officials’ concerns revealed
Health officials fear Palantir’s reputation will hinder the delivery of a “vital” £330m NHS contract, according to briefings seen by the Guardian, sparking fresh calls for the deal to be scrapped.In 2023, ministers selected Palantir, a US surveillance technology company that also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump’s ICE operation, to build an AI-enabled data platform to connect disparate health information across the NHS.Now it has emerged that after Keir Starmer demanded faster deployment, Whitehall officials privately warned that the public perception of Palantir would limit its rollout, meaning the contract would not offer value for money.By last summer fewer than half of health authorities in England had started using the technology amid opposition from the public and doctors.The British Medical Association (BMA) has said its members could refuse to use parts of the system citing Palantir’s role in targeting ICE raids in the US.
Palantir was this week called “ghastly” and “a highly questionable organisation” by MPs in the House of Commons.The fallout over Peter Mandelson’s relationship to the convicted child sexual abuse offender Jeffrey Epstein has also affected the image of Palantir, which employed the former US ambassador’s lobbying company, Global Counsel.Before he was sacked, Mandelson took Starmer to meet Palantir’s chief executive, Alex Karp, at the tech company’s Washington showroom.MPs last week demanded greater transparency around Palantir’s public sector deals, which also include a £240m contract with the Ministry of Defence and with several police forces.The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
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Our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.In a private briefing for Wes Streeting before a meeting with Palantir’s European boss, Louis Mosley, in June 2025, Department of Health officials wrote: “The public perception of the [Federated Data Platform (FDP)] during the procurement, and then in delivery, has been affected by the profile of Palantir.“We do not know the extent to which this is impacting on delivery.It is, however, likely to make it harder to go further with the FDP, and to encourage the inclusion of GP data locally.
”The briefing was released under the Freedom of Information Act to Foxglove, a tech fairness campaign group.The officials said the rollout had also been affected by debates about patient privacy and concerns that the NHS was being “locked-in” to a single vendor, but added: “Many of these debates are inaccurate and are often as a result of misconceptions.”Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at Foxglove, said: “The prime minister and the health secretary should listen to the public they serve when they tell them Palantir has no place in the NHS.“They should not be scheming with tech billionaires’ staff on how best they can ‘mitigate’ the ‘public perception’ problems these tech giants deservedly face through their own repellent behaviour.”The BMA, which represents NHS doctors, said it has “long opposed the involvement of Palantir in the delivery of care and the use of patient data in our NHS, and it is concerning to see from this briefing that the government felt public concern about Palantir should be dismissed as ‘misconceptions’”.
The briefing document suggested Streeting could ask Palantir how to speed up the rollout, and say that the government was keen to “remove unnecessary obstacles” including by revisiting “regulations relating to confidential patient information”.Streeting on Monday sought to show he had “nothing to hide” regarding his relationship with Mandelson by publishing their WhatsApp messages between August 2024 and October 2025.None mentioned Palantir, although in one exchange just over three weeks after Streeting’s meeting with the company, Mandelson encouraged him to visit the US and said: “Need to plan.Lots of tech companies and people to talk to.”New figures released on Thursday showed that the number of NHS organisations using the Palantir technology has increased since June from 118 to 151, which is still well short of the target of 240 by the end of this year.
Palantir was co-founded by the Trump supporter and billionaire Peter Thiel, who has previously said “the NHS makes people sick”, and described the British public’s affection for the NHS as a case of “Stockholm syndrome” – the term for hostages who feel a bond with their captors.The former Conservative government minister David Davis said the government now faced a “huge value-for-money issue” over the Palantir contract.He said there had been “naivety in the senior management of the NHS” in awarding a contract to a company with “spectacular baggage in terms of its genesis in the American security state”.“The government is going to have a problem with many hospital trusts and they are going to have really difficult problems with the GPs,” he said.“My best estimate is they will never get most of the GPs with an organisation like Palantir.
”John Puntis, co-chair of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, said: “This looks like another example of a hugely wasteful IT contract, and lack of public trust will make it unworkable.“They ought to end the contract or not renew it.They should accept that the public is very concerned and it is going to make the use of public data very difficult if people think it’s going to be accessed by a company like Palantir.”A spokesperson for Palantir said: “Palantir software is helping to deliver better public services in the UK.That includes delivering 99,000 more NHS operations and reducing hospital discharge delays by 15%, as well as helping the Royal Navy keep ships at sea for longer and the police to tackle domestic violence.
”A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The Federated Data Platform is already delivering for the NHS – helping to join-up patient care, increase hospital productivity, speed up cancer diagnosis and ensure thousands of additional patients can be treated each month.“All providers go through a rigorous, competitive procurement process in line with Government legislation.All data operates under the instruction of the NHS, with strict stipulations in the contract about confidentiality.”NHS England declined to comment.
Left or right, Keir? Labour factions jostle for influence in post-McSweeney No 10
As the prime minister fought for his political life before Labour MPs at their Monday evening meeting, even hardened sceptics saw a flash of something different in Keir Starmer.Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said Starmer had been “liberated”. He did not have to spell out who from. His comments came 24 hours after the departure of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, a man who has shaped Labour’s modern incarnation.McSweeney’s presence loomed the largest over any other in Starmer’s government, and his departure means there are many cabinet ministers, groups and factions of the party who spy an opportunity to define what comes next
Reform UK’s Kent council faces ‘extreme risk’ after passing first budget
Reform UK’s showcase council in Kent faces “extreme risk” and “instability”, opposition politicians have warned, after it passed its first budget.The party’s councillors voted it through on Thursday night after their leaders announced a 3.99% council tax increase, one percentage point under the limit before a referendum is required, despite promising before their election win not to raise tax.While it was described by the council leader, Linden Kemkaran, as a “sensible, low-tax budget,” opposition parties said it left the council’s reserves “dangerously low” and exposed to financial risk totalling more than £410m on the local authority’s risk register.The vote was carried with 48 councillors in favour – the number who are still with Reform after a period of turmoil in which several left Nigel Farage’s bloc on the council – with 26 against and one abstention
Reeves urged to reassure MPs over public finances amid £6bn-a-year Send costs
Rachel Reeves is under pressure to reassure MPs over the state of the UK’s public finances, amid concerns that the rising cost of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) could leave a significant hole in the government’s financial buffer.Meg Hillier, the chair of the all-party House of Commons Treasury committee, said the chancellor should make clear her long-term plans for the £6bn-a-year Send bill as uncertainty grows over how it will be accounted for at the end of the decade.Reeves, who is due to appear before the committee next month, said in a letterto MPs that she plans to delay a decision until next year.City analysts said financial market investors would be concerned if some or all of the £6bn Send annual cost was deducted from the budget surplus, which the chancellor more than doubled in last November’s budget to £22bn to cushion the UK against volatile government bond markets.The spat between MPs and the Treasury comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the £6bn Send bill was unaccounted for at the budget and expected increases to the bill over the next decade posed a risk to the public finances
Starmer ousts cabinet secretary in clear-out of top team after Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer’s attempt to shake up his top team after the disastrous Peter Mandelson scandal began on Thursday, when he forced out his most senior civil servant with a view to replacing him with Antonia Romeo.The prime minister announced that Chris Wormald was stepping down “by mutual consent” after just over a year as cabinet secretary, with Romeo almost certain to succeed him as the first woman in the job.Starmer’s decision to oust Wormald drew ire from senior civil servants over the brutality of the move. One person described the mood as “sulphurous” over the prime minister’s apparent willingness to let senior officials go.The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the cabinet secretary had become the “latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin”
Who is Antonia Romeo and why is she tipped to be the next cabinet secretary?
Antonia Romeo is not a typical civil servant, according to almost everyone who has worked with or met her in a professional context.Charming, ambitious and not afraid to publicise her own achievements, Romeo was on the shortlist to be cabinet secretary a year ago when Keir Starmer opted instead for a classic “Sir Humphrey” choice in Chris Wormald.But with Wormald now forced out, the permanent secretary of the Home Office finds herself back at the top of the list of appointable candidates and the frontrunner to succeed him.Whitehall sources said earlier this week that Romeo’s appointment was the most likely option but “not nailed on” because No 10 “still don’t know what they want”. It is understood, however, that Downing Street very much intends to appoint her, subject to the civil service commissioner’s approval of the process
Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK
The head of a Labour-affiliated union has called for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer, warning that Starmer risks leading the party into a heavy election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.Maryam Eslamdoust, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), told the Guardian she wanted the former deputy prime minister to take charge after this month’s Gorton and Denton byelection.Eslamdoust is the first union leader to call openly for Rayner to oust Starmer, adding to pressure on the prime minister at the end of his most difficult week in office.She said: “I think it’s time that the Labour party had a woman leader. The Tories have had three women prime ministers and four leaders and we’ve had none
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