Khan Blocks Met-Palantir £50m; “Clear and Serious Breach”
London mayor Sadiq Khan has blocked a £50 million contract between the Metropolitan Police and the controversial US tech company Palantir, with City Hall citing a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules. Scotland Yard had been in talks to use Palantir’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime withheld approval, saying Scotland Yard had seriously engaged with only one potential supplier and that the Met risked becoming locked into Palantir’s technology. Mopac said the proposed deal had not “ensured or demonstrated value for money”.
Deputy mayor for policing and crime Kaya Comer-Schwartz wrote to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley: “I have not been provided with any acceptable explanation for this failure, which I regard as a clear and serious breach of the applicable procedural requirements.” The procurement process, she said, had created “legal and reputation risks”. The Met had originally costed the contract at £15-£25 million a year; the proposed deal was at the top of that range. Palantir was co-founded by Peter Thiel and signed a seven-year £330 million deal with NHS England in 2023 for its Foundry federated-data system. Cross-party MPs called last month for the NHS contract to be cancelled, describing Palantir as “shameful” over patient-data security concerns.