Palantir Lobbied Minister to Extend NHS Reach Into GP Records

Palantir pressed a UK health minister to open NHS GP records to its software, despite a 2023 government pledge that GP data would stay out of its £330m contract. The US firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, argued through WhatsApp messages that "the logic of joining up primary and secondary [care] data is unarguable" and called its platform "ideal" for the job.

The messages, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by campaign group Foxglove and shared with the Guardian, appear to be between Palantir's UK boss Louis Mosley and former health minister Zubir Ahmed. They span July 2025 to March 2026. Palantir did not deny the executive was Mosley. The lobbying push came in February this year, even though GP data was expressly excluded from Palantir's £330m NHS England contract to run the federated data platform (FDP).

What did Palantir want?

The company urged Ahmed to apply its Foundry software to GP records. It claimed benefits including "faster access to GPs … more effective and targeted management of frail patients, and more effective preventative care". It also said the platform would "maintain local control of data".

Palantir advised the minister to "get out ahead of" likely political opposition from doctors and critics such as Green party leader Zack Polanski and Your Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. One message warned that "the politics [of using GP data] is not straightforward – the previous government ruled GP data out of scope when announcing the FDP. So, as this moves forward, it will be one to get ahead of and explain, otherwise the opponents described above will make hay with it."

The firm also flattered its access. After Mosley appeared on the BBC One Sunday politics programme, Ahmed wrote: "Great work [on] Kuenssberg btw." Palantir told Ahmed the "FDP is already delivering very strong results – but will deliver even more benefits faster with the right ministerial sponsorship." That sentence is the mechanism of the whole exchange: the company asked a minister for political cover in exchange for faster results.

Who is objecting?

The British Medical Association has opposed folding GP data into the FDP. Doctors cite a lack of trust in Palantir, which also works for the Israeli military and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Dr Tom Dolphin, chair of the BMA council, warned of "scope creep". He said identifiable personal data in GP records could "undermine patient trust and threaten the doctor-patient relationship". He added: "Patients must be able to seek care without worrying which operators might have access to duplicates of their personal information."

Marc Farr, chair of the NHS Chief Data and Analytical Officer Network, said Palantir "appears to be bidding to stretch the scope of its work for NHS England in a way that goes beyond statements from ministers and NHS leaders that GP data was not in the scope of the FDP contract and would require legislative change". He noted two separate select committees had stressed that "public trust and transparency is essential to us being able to realise the fantastic opportunities that technology and data offer".

Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at Foxglove, said the messages showed Palantir "lobbying to hoover up yet more of the British public's sensitive personal data". "It is appalling to see Palantir pressuring the minister to bring GP records into its platform, despite pledges from the government in 2023 that this would not happen," he said. He added the correspondence "shows they knew just how sensitive this was" and that they made the argument "privately, via privileged access to the government".

What happens to the contract?

The disclosure lands at a sensitive moment. Last week the Financial Times reported ministers were unlikely to end the contract imminently, defying campaigners and two House of Commons committees that wanted Palantir out by spring. The concern: removing the firm's AI tools without an alternative would disrupt NHS operations.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament the review was ongoing. She said there was "a huge long-term benefit to using the NHS to develop UK sovereign AI" — a signal the government may seek a domestic replacement when the contract reaches its next end point in 2029. Bloomberg reported that Tom Watson, a Labour peer hired full-time by Palantir as a lobbyist in September, recently wrote to Cooper urging her to keep the contract: "I want to ensure that Palantir UK rises to meet the government's new social-value tests and helps build Britain's sovereign technological capability."

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. We've also always been clear that it is for the government to decide how they roll the software out. These exchanges reflect both of those points." The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.

The FDP contract runs to its next decision point in 2029. Whether GP records stay outside it now depends on whether ministers treat the 2023 pledge as binding.