Joint statement says Mopac block was not based on Palantir’s values
Palantir and the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan have dropped their legal fight over the mayor’s decision to block the US tech company from a £50m Metropolitan Police contract, heading off a high court trial that had been scheduled for January.
The settlement was announced Wednesday by Palantir and the mayor’s office for policing and crime (Mopac). Each side will cover its own legal costs, no admissions of liability are made and no damages have been paid.
The dispute began in May, when Mopac blocked Palantir from receiving a two-year contract to supply the Met with a system called unified operational analytics (UOA), which the company has described as AI used to process intelligence in criminal investigations. Mopac cited a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules at the time. Palantir sued Mopac in June.
Khan had previously said Londoners only wanted to see public money paid to companies that “share the values of our city.” Palantir also works for the Israeli military and for the Trump administration in its immigration crackdown. Louis Mosley, who heads Palantir in the UK and Europe, responded by accusing Khan of politicising procurement and said he was “putting politics above public safety.” “What Londoners value is not being mugged, not being raped by a serving police officer,” Mosley said.
Palantir was concerned that, if public authorities were able to block it from winning contracts due to objections over the values of its senior leadership, it would undermine its ability to operate in the UK.
The agreement to drop the claims comes about a month after Palantir hired Tom Watson, the former Labour party deputy leader, as a full-time lobbyist. Watson framed Wednesday’s settlement as a vindication of the company’s position. “The mayor and his team have recognised their actions could have created the impression that the decision to block the UOA contract was based on Palantir’s values,” Watson said. “I’m very pleased that they have today corrected any such impression, and that even in the face of extreme provocation from highly organised pressure groups, decisions about deploying technology can still be made on their merits and in the public interest.”
In a joint statement, Palantir and Mopac said Mopac’s decision “was not based on Palantir’s values or ethics or any wider reporting about the company.” Mopac also recognised, the statement said, “that media reporting of a statement from the mayor’s spokesperson before the decision was taken could have incorrectly created the impression that an assessment of the company’s values had been a factor in that decision.” Mopac said its own consideration was “based upon its statutory role of examining spend proposals, against the appropriate legal tests and the relevant guidance on procurement, governance, affordability and ensuring value for money for Londoners.”
Khan struck a more conciliatory note in a separate statement. “London is the technology capital of Europe, and I am proud that leading software firms choose the city as their home,” he said. “Palantir makes a significant contribution to jobs and investment in the capital, employing a large number of Londoners whose services have been procured legally by organisations across the UK and beyond.”
A new procurement process for the £50m police contract is under way, and Mopac has agreed to treat Palantir “fairly and equally” if it bids, as is widely expected. Mopac is not, however, bound to award the contract to Palantir.
The settlement does not resolve Palantir’s wider position in the UK market. The company is separately facing a battle to retain a £330m NHS medical data contract amid a vociferous campaign from parts of the public and some MPs for it to be replaced by a less controversial supplier.