The request and the documents
Palantir has pressed a British health minister to consider extending its AI technology to GP medical records, expanding its presence in the National Health Service in a way that doctors say risks undermining patient trust. The Guardian reports this, citing WhatsApp messages obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by technology campaign group Foxglove and shared with the newspaper.
According to the material, the messages span several months, from July 2025 to March 2026, and appear to have been exchanged between Palantir’s UK head, Louis Mosley, and then health minister Zubir Ahmed. The company reportedly argued that “the logic of combining primary and secondary care data is undeniable” and that its software was “ideal” for the task. The executive’s name is redacted in the documents released by the health ministry, but Palantir did not deny that it was Mosley.
The contract issue and the opposition
The request came in February this year, according to the Guardian, even though GP data were expressly excluded from the scope of the existing £330 million contract between Palantir and NHS England to manage the Federated Data Platform (FDP). When Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government announced the deal three years ago, it said that “GP data will not be part of the national platform.”
In the messages and a briefing document, Palantir reportedly urged the minister to “get ahead” of likely “political” opposition from doctors and critics of the company, citing among others Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Your Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The company also reportedly wrote that the FDP “is already delivering very strong results” but would deliver “even more and faster with the right ministerial sponsorship.” In a reply, the minister reportedly complimented the executive on his appearance on BBC1’s Sunday programme.
Reactions and open questions
Groups representing doctors and patients, including the British Medical Association, oppose integrating GP data into Palantir’s FDP, citing a lack of trust in the company, which also works for the Israeli military and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tom Dolphin, chair of the BMA council, spoke of a possible “creeping expansion” of scope, with the risk that Palantir could access identifiable personal data in GP records and that this “undermines patient trust and puts the doctor-patient relationship at risk.”
Donald Campbell, Foxglove’s advocacy director, called the messages evidence of pressure to “hoover up even more sensitive personal data from the British public.” Marc Farr, chair of the NHS data leaders’ network, noted that Palantir appears to be positioning itself to extend its work beyond statements by ministers and health leaders that GP data is not covered by the FDP contract and would require a legislative change. Palantir responded that data sharing can improve the NHS and that it is up to the government to decide how to distribute the software. The Health Ministry did not comment. It remains to be seen whether and how the government intends to change the scope of the contract.
