Palantir’s UK boss criticises ‘ideological’ groups as ministers move to scrap NHS contract
Palantir’s UK boss has urged the government not to give in to “ideologically motivated campaigners” as government ministers explore a way out of a £330m NHS contract with the tech company.Ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s deal to deliver the Federated Data Platform (FDP), amid questions over the company’s presence in the public sector.The FDP is an AI-enabled data platform designed to connect disparate health information across the NHS, while Palantir also has contracts with the Ministry of Defence, several police forces and the UK’s financial watchdog.Louis Mosley, the executive vice-chair of Palantir in the UK, told the Times the government should resist calls to eject the company from NHS England’s data systems.“Having a review clause in a contract is good and normal practice.
However, what some ideologically motivated campaigners are suggesting should happen would harm patient care and prevent some of the biggest challenges facing the NHS from being tackled,” Mosley said.“That would be a mistake.The clear evidence of the past two years of delivery is that our software is helping.It is forecast to deliver £150m in benefits by the end of the decade, representing a £5 return for every pound spent.”The Financial Times reported on Sunday that ministers had taken soundings on triggering a break clause in the FDP contract when it becomes active next year.
Government officials have argued that it is feasible to transfer the running of the FDP, which Palantir is building, to another provider, the FT reported,Palantir, which takes its name from the all-seeing orbs in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, is a US data analytics company that also works for the Israeli and US militaries and Donald Trump’s ICE operation,The BMA, which represents NHS doctors, has said it has “long opposed the involvement of Palantir in the delivery of care and the use of patient data in our NHS”,Health officials have expressed fears that Palantir’s reputation will affect delivery of the FDP contract,While the government is at pains not to feed speculation about the trigger clause, sources said there was a growing recognition that the issue of Palantir and potential reputation risk had moved beyond the Labour left and Greens, who have led criticism in the past.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the Guardian: “The NHS Federated Data Platform is helping to join up patient care, increase productivity, speed up cancer diagnosis and ensure thousands of additional patients can be treated each month – with strict requirements in place about data security and confidentiality.“Every hospital trust and integrated care board has their own instance of the IT platform, with complete control over who has access.”Sources close to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, point to comments he made to the Guardian Politics Weekly podcast, in which he was asked about ethical issues with engaging Palantir.Asked if he recognised that people were worried about the deal with Palantir, given his history and the fact that it was founded by Peter Thiel, an influential figure on the American right, he said: “Yes … When you look at some of the things Palantir’s leaders have said in the States, when you look at their political views and their outlook … If you were to put [Thiel] and some of those Palantir bosses on the political spectrum in the UK, they would be well off to the right of even Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party.”However, he added that Palantir did not see the patient data handled by its systems.
“The platform they have given to us to improve our systems our performances, intelligence and tackling health inequalities, all of that is run by us, Palantir don’t see our patient data.Now I am in government I am in an even better position to assure myself and the public that that remains the case.One of the challenges remains.”The number of NHS organisations using Palantir technology has increased since June from 118 to 151, still short of the target of 240 by the end of this year.One prominent backbench Labour MP told the Guardian that Palantir was also starting to come up on the doorstep with voters.
Clive Lewis, who represents Norwich South, said: “It’s not something like the NHS itself, or the economy, it’s a second-order issue, but it is noticeable that people are aware and have mentioned it.”Palantir had become a byword for the anxiety many voters felt in relation to worries about AI and technological change, he said.“I would also imagine that there is a dawning realisation in Whitehall about how uniquely exposed Britain is in so many ways, whether that is food security or data, so there will be people who are reviewing issues such as whether it is the right thing to embed a company like Palantir in our infrastructure.“It’s obvious in the case of defence, but that also percolates down to healthcare data.What was unthinkable 18 months to a year ago in terms of our relationship with the US and US companies is now very much on people’s minds.
”
Nigel Farage to snub US conservative conference brought to UK by Liz Truss
Nigel Farage will snub a major conference of US conservatives that is being brought to the UK by Liz Truss.The short-lived former prime minister, who was accused of crashing the economy, was chosen by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to lead a version of the event in the UK in July.She announced this on stage in Texas on Monday while next to Matt Schlapp, commentator and chair of the event, which in the US has hosted major figures including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tulsi Gabbard and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.However, mainstream conservative figures in the UK seem wary to be associated with the Truss-led event.“We will be steering well clear of it,” a Reform UK source said, dashing any hopes that Farage would attend
Zack Polanski meets unions in attempt to get them to switch party funding to Greens
Zack Polanski has kicked off a charm offensive designed to convince trade unions to stop funding Labour and throw their weight behind the Green party, as he delivered the first in a series of speeches to union conferences.The Green leader has had “good conversations” with 10 trade unions, including some affiliated to Labour, according to party sources, and is due to address the University and College Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, not affiliated with Labour, in the coming months.The UK’s largest unions – Unite and Unison – were among those that denied negotiating with Polanski and said they remained affiliated to the Labour party. However, Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labour before a special conference in 2027 at which it could potentially decide to disaffiliate.While Green party sources admitted that discussions Polanski had held with individual unions varied in formality, some union insiders were adamant that supporting the Greens would be a no-go area, and that such discussions were “much ado about nothing”
Kemi the attention seeker somehow always makes two plus two equal five | John Crace
Losing sleep over the war in Iran? Worried sick about the cost of living? Can’t pay your energy bills? Then relax. Because Kemi Badenoch has a displacement activity for you.It’s becoming increasingly easy to understand the Conservative leader by viewing her as a hyperactive five-year-old at the back of the class who is constantly disruptive. Who can’t get through a lesson without some kind of attention-seeking behaviour. Who has a constant desire to be indulged even though her first reactions are invariably wrong
Zack Polanski tells NEU teachers’ union that Greens would abolish ‘toxic’ Ofsted – as it happened
The Green party would abolish Ofsted because they view it as a “failed institution”, Zack Polanski, its leader, has told a teaching union conference.Polanski also said that the Greens were opposed to the academisation of schools and that they believe that Labour is not fixing the “failings” in the system by the Tories, but embedding them.In a speech to the National Education Union’s annual conference, Polanski said:double quotation markOfsted is a toxic, failed institution which is harming teachers and children – and it’s time to end it.Talking about school structures more generally, he said:double quotation markThis government’s reforms are simply tinkering around the edges.We need to end the Ofsted era entirely and move towards a genuinely collaborative model
Starmer pledges to tackle new cost of living crisis at May elections campaign launch
The 7 May elections are taking place against a backdrop of “war on two fronts”, Keir Starmer has said, as he pledged action to tackle the resurgent cost of living crisis.Launching Labour’s English local elections campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday, the prime minister said: “We’re facing a war on two fronts – the Ukraine war, now four and a bit years in … and now the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.“People look at their screens and they’re worried when they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, the rhetoric that goes with it, worried about whether this is going to escalate even further.”Labour is braced for heavy losses in English council votes on 7 May, in particular in the north-east and London, amid challenges from Reform UK on the right and the Green party on the left. The contests are seen as a major test for Starmer’s premiership
MPs wary of move against Starmer while war is raging
A week after Labour’s election victory in July 2024, officials at Labour HQ held their first crisis meeting about the May 2026 local elections.The party had just secured a 174-seat majority and already strategists were predicting it would be very tough, though none were assuming the prime minister’s own position would be vulnerable.Now, according to multiple officials, it will be nothing short of a “bloodbath” – though it is an open question whether the parliamentary Labour party will use it to depose Keir Starmer.One Starmer ally said it would be impossible to spin the results. “There’s no point us doing expectation management, as the results are going to be terrible anyway,” they said
Jayson Gillham announces tour with Palestinian-Jordanian musician ahead of MSO court case
Fill that Glasto-shaped hole! The 40 best UK festivals you can still book
Shaun Micallef: ‘Charlie Pickering said that’s the only thing keeping him going – to vanquish me’
The Guide #236: Is celebrity casting a cynical marketing stunt or does it help to democratise theatre?
From The Magic Faraway Tree to 5 Seconds of Summer: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Jimmy Kimmel on Mike Johnson’s new award for Trump: ‘You can almost feel his spine exiting his body’