Focussing on a specific company or individual is not something we would usually do; but we need to talk about Palantir’s controversial role in government and public services. You might recognise the name, but for most of us some background is needed.
Palantir is an American software services company that among a range of specialisations provides ‘mission critical’ security systems to the US Department of War, and surveillance and facial recognition systems for the Israeli government, technologies that have also been harnessed for the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement program.
The company’s first sniff at UK govt business was a cabinet office job in 2015, described as an enterprise analytical platform for Brexit preparation. There was no competitive tender. Very little is known about this contract because the Cabinet Office stonewalls all FoI requests.
Then came a gratis ‘helping hand’ with Covid tracking, a favour to the cabinet office that has been handsomely repaid in just a few years. Today, Palantir software is embedded in parts of the NHS, Ministry of Defence, police forces, financial regulation, and is moving into local government – all areas critical to the functioning of a modern state.
This might have gone unnoticed were it not for the opinions and beliefs of one of the company’s founders, Peter Thiel, and the role of a certain influencer by the name of Peter Mandelson.
Thiel is a conservative libertarian, Christian eschatologist and democracy-skeptic authoritarian, who has made substantial contributions to American right-wing causes and Trump’s election campaigns. Recently, Palantir appointed the grandson of 1930s British fascist leader Oswald Mosley to spearhead expansion in the UK (yes, really!).
During the course of 2025 Palantir recruited four former UK Ministry of Defence officials and capped the year by winning its largest MoD contract to date, a £240 million chunk of business awarded without tender (see below for update).
The pattern of Palantir’s growth in the UK is troubling, not least the lack of competitive tendering. You might also ask why so much control is being placed with just one corporation and one that is aligned with a US administration that is openly hostile towards the UK.
Trump’s relationship with Russia has put the US on a collision course with Europe. This begs an important question: are we sleepwalking towards a frightening future? When the Chinese firm Huawei was poised to take a leading role in upgrading the UK’s mobile services there was an outcry that forced a policy reversal. Where are the voices of protest now? Where is the scrutiny of decision making?
More cause for concern: a deeper dive into Theil’s connections.
Update 27/4/26:
Yet another twist in the Palantir story, this time involving Labour and the ubiquitous Peter Mandelson.
On February 27 2025, Keir Starmer and Peter Mandelson (then UK Ambassador to the USA), visited Palantir’s headquarters in Washington. Eleven defence personnel attended alongside Britain’s defence attaché to the United States. A presentation was given. A tour followed.
The meeting was not logged in Starmer’s transparency returns, while other engagements from the same trip were.
Now consider for a moment who was in the room: Mandelson, Defence officials, and executives of a technology company that was, at the time, a registered client of Global Counsel, the lobbying firm Mandelson co-founded and in which he held a 24 percent stake while serving as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.
Global Counsel had been hired by Palantir as far back 2018 specifically to help procure UK government contracts. The connection between Global Counsel and Palantir was reportedly absent from his vetting for the post of ambassador.
So…. The British ambassador (with a direct financial interest in a lobbying firm representing Palantir) facilitated a meeting between the Prime Minister and that firm’s defence contractor client. The meeting was not declared. No minutes were taken. Later in 2025, Palantir was awarded a five year £750 million contract with the Ministry of Defence.