Palantir Hits Back at Sadiq Khan Over Blocked £50m Met Police Contract

Palantir has accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of prioritizing politics over public safety after Khan blocked a £50 million contract between the company and the Metropolitan Police, a decision that has also exposed divisions within the Labour Party regarding ties with the U.S. tech firm.

Louis Mosley, Palantir’s UK and Europe head, accused Khan of politicizing procurement after the mayor rejected a two-year deal for Scotland Yard to use artificial intelligence to process criminal intelligence. “What Londoners value is not being mugged, not being raped by a serving police officer,” Mosley said.

The Met had planned to hire Palantir, co-founded by Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel, to automate aspects of investigations. Khan’s office, which oversees large Scotland Yard contracts, cited a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules as the reason for blocking the deal.

Palantir also provides services to the Israeli military and the Trump administration in its immigration enforcement efforts. Khan has previously stated that Londoners expect public funds to go only to companies that “share the values of our city.”

Last year, when Palantir CEO Alex Karp was confronted with the statement “Palantir kills Palestinians” in Gaza, he replied, “Mostly terrorists, that’s true.” Khan’s position puts him at odds with the U.K. government, which has a £330 million contract with Palantir for NHS England and a £240 million deal with the Ministry of Defence.

Scotland Yard expressed disappointment over Khan’s decision, warning that without new technology it would have to cut officer numbers, affecting its ability to keep London safe.

On Friday, Mosley told Times Radio, “What Londoners value is not being mugged, not being raped by a serving police officer and that’s really what the focus here should be … If we are going to politicise procurement in that way then we are going to compromise public safety.”

His remarks drew condemnation from Labour MP Stella Creasy, who said Mosley “should be ashamed of himself.”

“To hear the CEO of Palantir using the serious matter of sexual abuse by Met officers to attack the mayor of London for rejecting his company and so cutting his profits shows exactly why Palantir are not fit to lecture anyone on values,” Creasy said.

Mosley questioned why Khan singled out Palantir “with our values and not with other tech companies.”

“We may work with Israel, but so does Amazon, and so does Microsoft,” he said. “We may work with the Trump administration supporting the immigration enforcement arm of his government, so does Amazon, so does Microsoft … why do we get singled out?”

Mosley’s response came as Khan’s decision appeared to split the Labour Party. MPs including Rosena Allin-Khan and Clive Lewis called it the “right call.”

“Palantir does not reflect the values of our city,” said Allin-Khan. “We must maintain public trust and ensure that any tech partnerships truly serve the safety and rights of Londoners.”

Lewis said, “Other mayors and police and crime commissioners should take note and keep Palantir out of policing.”

Business Secretary Peter Kyle, however, said Palantir could do things “no one else does around the world at the moment, and that’s something that I am really taken with.”

Kyle, who has been lobbied by Palantir according to records of ministerial meetings, called on the London mayor to “come out and explain” his “big decision.”

Scotland Yard initially appointed Palantir on a separate deal worth less than £500,000, which did not require mayoral scrutiny. That deal involved using AI to detect rogue officers by scanning for potential abuse of rosters and other systems.

The Metropolitan Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, described the surveillance system as “big brother” and criticized the “unchecked use of a controversial AI provider to spy on every single one of our colleagues.”

Met chiefs sought to expand Palantir’s role to scan criminal intelligence data for patterns and clues, as it already does for smaller forces like Bedfordshire and Leicestershire. City Hall found that the extension process prevented bids from other suppliers.

Ministers acknowledge the need to reduce reliance on foreign AI companies as the technology becomes more integrated into public services.

Kyle said, “We need to have more British AI companies that can do those kinds of things, which is why I’ve taken equity stakes in British AI firms and British tech firms, so that we can scale them up much, much faster.”