Palantir lobbied UK minister to pull GP records into £330M NHS platform
What's the deal? Palantir lobbied a former UK health minister to extend its artificial intelligence technology into GP records, according to WhatsApp messages obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The messages, spanning July 2025 to March 2026, appear to be between Palantir's UK boss, Louis Mosley, and then health minister Zubir Ahmed. Campaign group Foxglove obtained the documents and shared them with the Guardian.
What's at stake? GP records were explicitly ruled out of Palantir's £330m contract with NHS EnglandDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to run its Federated Data Platform (FDP). When the platform launched in 2023, ministers told MPs that "GP data will not be part of the national platform."
What did Palantir argue? A briefing note sent in February said "the logic of joining up primary and secondary [care] data is unarguable," adding its software was "ideal" for the job. The note acknowledged the sensitivity, stating "the politics is not straightforward" and urging the minister to "get out ahead of" likely opposition.
Why now? The lobbying lands as ministers weigh whether to extend Palantir's contract, which runs to March 2027. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs the government was "in the middle" of reviewing the deal, with a decision due by December.
Who objects? MPs on the Health and the Science and Technology Select Committees have called for the contract to be ended, citing public trust and over-reliance on US tech firms. The British Medical Association and doctors' groups oppose integrating GP data, noting Palantir also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump's ICE immigration crackdown. More than 100,000 people have signed a petition against the contract.
What does Palantir say? A spokesperson said: "We've long argued that data sharing can improve the NHS, for patients and taxpayers." The company added that it is "for the Government to decide how they roll the software out," and that the exchanges reflect those points.
What happens next? The Financial TimesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → reported the government is preparing to extend the contract for two years while drawing up plans to potentially replace Palantir with a UK alternative. Palantir, co-founded by Trump donor Peter Thiel, says the FDP has helped cut surgery waiting times and discharge delays.
The signal: The dispute goes beyond one software contract. It tests whether a government can hold a promised data boundary against commercial pressure from a major US vendor — and how much public trust survives when that lobbying happens privately, on a minister's phone.
Read more: The Guardian
Image credit: ell brown
