{"id":629599,"date":"2026-06-09T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629599\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:39:09","slug":"palantir-to-sue-sadiq-khan-over-blocked-50m-met-police-contract-palantir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629599\/","title":{"rendered":"Palantir to sue Sadiq Khan over blocked \u00a350m Met police contract | Palantir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Met had planned to use Palantir\u2019s software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK\u2019s largest police force and the mayor\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Khan said there had been a breach of procurement rules in the contract and suggested Palantir<\/a> had been the only contender.<\/p>\n

Now the Times has reported that Palantir\u2019s lawyers have written to the Mayor\u2019s Office for Policing and Crime saying they intend to challenge the decision in court. Khan\u2019s office confirmed they had received the letter. Palantir declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Khan\u2019s office said: \u201cThe Met did not present its procurement strategy as required and the Met only fully engaged with one potential supplier: Palantir.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added the decision was not made on the basis of \u201cvalues or political considerations\u201d but rather the procurement process \u201cdid not adequately demonstrate value for money for Londoners\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Met\u2019s potential deal with Palantir, worth \u00a350m, is one of a series of agreements between the US software company and UK government bodies now under fire amid a wave of mounting distaste over the company\u2019s public ideological statements.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday morning, the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, confirmed the government was conducting a full review of the NHS contract with Palantir, assessing whether to extend the \u00a3330m deal or activate a break clause that would allow it to stop using the company\u2019s services in early 2027.<\/p>\n

Last week, a parliamentary committee urged the government to trigger a break, calling Palantir\u2019s presence an \u201cunacceptable point of weakness<\/a>\u201d in a public sector increasingly reliant on a handful of US tech firms.<\/p>\n

In April, Palantir published a mini-manifesto on X extolling the benefits of US power<\/a> and implying some cultures were inferior to others, in what one MP called \u201cthe ramblings of a supervillain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the SXSW business and technology conference last week, Wes Streeting described some of the company\u2019s executives as \u201cBlofeld villains\u201d \u2013 but did not say whether he thought the contract should be broken.<\/p>\n

Asked about the review of Palantir\u2019s NHS contract, David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, said it is important there is \u201cdiversification\u201d among each department\u2019s government contracts.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI would support the call that we heard last week from the select committee wanting to ensure that public service delivery departments are diverse \u2026 I support the review that I understand the secretary of state for health is looking at in relation to Palantir in the health service. Diversification is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, said: \u201cIn a democracy, democracies can change their mind and democracies are sovereign.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at other countries who have stayed well away from Palantir \u2013 France and Germany. They have had the same briefings every other European country has, which is to allow a company like that, with the close connections it has to unsavoury political views, is asking for trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-629599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}