Key facts
- Palantir argued the logic of joining up primary and secondary care data was unarguable, per the messages.
- GP data was expressly ruled out of Palantir's £330 million NHS England federated data platform contract.
- Palantir told the minister its software was ideal for extending into GP records.
- The BMA's Tom Dolphin warned of scope creep that could undermine patient trust and the doctor-patient relationship.
- Palantir said it has always been clear it is for the government to decide how the software is rolled out.
- The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.
Palantir lobbied a health minister to consider extending its AI technology into GP records, according to WhatsApp messages obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the tech equity campaign group Foxglove and shared with the Guardian. The messages, which span several months from July 2025 to March 2026, appear to be between Palantir's UK boss, Louis Mosley, and the former health minister Zubir Ahmed.
In the messages and a briefing document, Palantir argued that "the logic of joining up primary and secondary [care] data is unarguable" and said its software was "ideal" for the job. The push came in February despite GP data being expressly ruled out of scope of Palantir's £330 million contract with NHS England to run its federated data platform (FDP).
Palantir urged Ahmed to "get out ahead of" likely political opposition from doctors and critics, including Green party leader Zack Polanski and Your Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The firm told Ahmed: "The FDP is already delivering very strong results – but will deliver even more benefits faster with the right ministerial sponsorship." The Palantir executive's name is redacted in the documents, but Palantir did not deny it was Mosley.
Groups representing doctors and patients, including the British Medical Association, have opposed integrating GP data into Palantir's FDP, citing a lack of trust in the company, which also works for the Israeli military and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When Rishi Sunak's Conservative government announced the deal three years ago, it said: "GP data will not be part of the national platform."
The lobbying emerged after the Financial Times reported that ministers were unlikely to end Palantir's NHS data management contract imminently, defying campaigners and two House of Commons committees. Health secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament the review was ongoing but said there was "a huge long-term benefit to using the NHS to develop UK sovereign AI." Bloomberg reported that Tom Watson, a Labour peer hired as a full-time lobbyist by Palantir in September, wrote to Cooper urging her to keep the contract going.
Foxglove's Donald Campbell said the WhatsApps showed Palantir "lobbying to hoover up yet more of the British public's sensitive personal data." BMA council chair Tom Dolphin raised concerns about "scope creep" that could "undermine patient trust and threaten the doctor-patient relationship." Marc Farr, chair of the NHS Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network, said Palantir appeared to be bidding to stretch the scope of its work beyond statements from ministers and NHS leaders. Palantir said: "We've long argued that data sharing can improve the NHS, for patients and taxpayers, and that our software helps different NHS organisations to do that, while ensuring they maintain full local control over their data." The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.