US tech giant Palantir is preparing to launch legal action against the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, following his decision to block a multi-million-pound contract between the company and the Metropolitan Police.
The Met Police had proposed a £25.3 million deal with Palantir UK for the 2026-2027 period. The contract aimed to deploy Palantir’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology to accelerate criminal investigations and actively root out corrupt officers within the force.
However, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) vetoed the agreement, stating it was not satisfied that the Met had adequately demonstrated “value for money” for London taxpayers.
“Unlawful” Decision? The Core of the Dispute
Palantir’s planned lawsuit focuses heavily on another aspect of MOPAC’s assessment, which reportedly cited concerns regarding the tech firm’s corporate values and ethics. Under UK procurement law, political or ethical evaluations cannot legally be used as the basis for refusing a commercial contract.
A Palantir spokesperson stated: “We don’t take the decision to pursue legal avenues lightly. However, we have clear reason to believe that the decision may have been taken because of a subjective assessment that our company does not share their ‘values’. If that is the case, the decision is not only bad for Londoners—leading to hundreds fewer officers on the street—it will have been unlawful too.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London firmly denied these claims, asserting that the block was strictly financial and procedural. They emphasized that given tight budgetary constraints across all public services, robust financial processes must be followed when awarding massive contracts.
Real-World Impact: The AI Pilot Already Caught Corrupt Cops
Before the deal was blocked, a pilot run of Palantir’s software was used by the Met to screen for potential misconduct, including corruption, fraud, sexual assault, abuse of authority, and misuse of police systems.
The results of the short pilot were highly effective, leading directly to:
- 2 immediate arrests of police officers.
- 30+ gross misconduct investigations within the force.
Despite these results, Palantir—now worth an estimated £17 billion—remains a controversial figure in the UK. Critics frequently highlight the company’s historical funding links to the CIA, its surveillance contracts with the Israeli Defence Force, and co-founder Peter Thiel’s status as a major donor to Donald Trump’s political campaigns.
Furthermore, the UK Government’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee recently warned against relying too heavily on US-based data providers like Palantir, stating that leaving critical public service infrastructure in the hands of foreign actors presents a clear vulnerability.
At a recent London Policing Board meeting, Mayor Sadiq Khan noted that further discussions regarding the contract are now heavily “restricted” due to the imminent threat of Palantir’s lawsuit.
Source: BBC / EchoPress Newsroom
