Palantir lobbied minister over access to NHS GP patient records

What the messages discussed

Messages shared with the Guardian by the civil rights group Foxglove cover the period from July 2025 to March 2026. They appear to show exchanges between Palantir’s UK head, Louis Mosley, and Ahmed, who was then health secretary. The ministry redacted the name of the company representative in its documents, but Palantir did not deny that it was Mosley.

In February 2026, the company argued to the minister that combining primary and hospital care data made obvious sense, and that its Foundry software was suited to the task. Palantir said connecting GP records could speed up access to doctors, improve targeted care for older and vulnerable patients, and make preventive care more effective. The company also argued that its platform allowed data to remain under local control.

Palantir asked Ahmed to prepare for likely opposition from doctors and the company’s critics. Those named included Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Your Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. In the messages, the company also said that the FDP platform was already delivering noticeable results and that the minister’s support would help unlock further benefits more quickly.

In one message, Ahmed praised Mosley’s appearance on BBC1’s Sunday political programme. The Palantir representative replied with a warning that using GP data was politically difficult: the previous government had excluded it from the FDP, so the issue needed to be explained in advance or opponents would use it to attack the company.

The contract and disputes over data access

The £330 million contract puts Palantir in charge of work on NHS England’s Federated Data Platform. The company says the FDP has helped reduce surgery backlogs and delays in discharging patients. But GP records were not included in the original agreement: when Rishi Sunak’s government announced the deal three years ago, it stated separately that the data would not be put on the national platform.

Doctors’ and patients’ organisations, including the British Medical Association, oppose the integration. They point to distrust of Palantir, which also works for the Israeli military and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).

Donald Campbell, Foxglove’s director of communications, said the messages showed Palantir trying to gain access to even more sensitive personal data belonging to people in the UK. He said the company had urged the minister to connect GP records despite the government’s 2023 promise not to do so. Campbell also said the messages showed that Palantir understood how sensitive the issue was and presented its case to the minister privately.

Tom Dolphin, chair of the British Medical Association’s council, warned that the company’s access to data could expand gradually. In his view, access to identifiable information in GP records could undermine patients’ trust and the doctor-patient relationship. Patients must be able to seek care without fearing that people they do not know will receive copies of their personal information, he added.

Mark Farr, chair of the NHS Data and Analytics Leadership Network, said Palantir appeared to be trying to expand its work beyond the terms of its stated contract. Including GP data, he said, might require a change in the law. Farr also cited findings from two parliamentary committees: public trust and transparency are essential if the potential of technology and data is to be realised.

The contract’s future

The messages emerged after reports that ministers were unlikely to end Palantir’s NHS contract in the near future. That differs from the demands of campaigners and two House of Commons committees, which called for the company to leave by spring. The Financial Times reported that the contract could be extended: dropping Palantir’s technology without a replacement ready could disrupt the system.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament last week that a review was under way. She also spoke about the long-term benefits of developing sovereign British AI using the NHS. This may mean the government will seek a British alternative to Palantir before the contract next expires in 2029.

Bloomberg reported that Tom Watson, a Labour peer whom Palantir hired as a full-time lobbyist in September, recently wrote to Cooper urging her to keep the contract. According to the publication, he argued that Palantir UK should meet the government’s new public-benefit requirements and help develop the UK’s technological independence.

Palantir said it had long supported data sharing to improve the NHS for patients and taxpayers, and that its software helped NHS organisations share information while maintaining local control. The company added that the government decides whether to roll out its software. The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.

Dataist’s take: The messages show that expanding the FDP to include GP records was discussed with the company directly involved, even though those data were excluded from the original contract. The central question is whether the government can justify such a change to patients and doctors, for whom trust and control over medical data remain essential.