Tom Watson defends Palantir amid government contract pressure
Former Labour deputy leader warns against 'mob rule' in procurement as Burnham faces calls to drop the US tech firm.
What to know
- Tom Watson, now at Palantir, defended the company against what he called 'mob rule' pressure to block its UK government contracts, including a £330m NHS deal.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces pressure from Labour MPs and unions to drop Palantir; the company is also fighting London Mayor Khan in court over a blocked £50m police contract.
- Watson pledged Palantir would work with a Reform UK government on immigration and attributed opposition to the firm to spillover from Gaza protests targeting Israeli military contracts.
- Labour MP Chi Onwurah warned against over-dependence on a US company subject to US law's data access provisions.
Watson's framing of opposition as 'mob rule' is cynical cover for political protection of a corporate contract.
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“Of course not Tom, perish the thought. They should be in the control of morally (at least) corrupt politicians with the ear of the government of the day. What could go wrong?”
Wen · Mastodon ↗
“I think we are very targeted by the people that are targeting Israeli companies. We're not an Israeli company, but because of our work in Israel we found ourselves in the middle of the row of the Gaza protests.”
Tom Watson, Senior vice-president at Palantir · BBC podcast Political Thinking with Nick Robinson ↗
Tom Watson Senior vice-president at Palantir; former Labour deputy leader
Andy Burnham Prime Minister
Sadiq Khan London Mayor
Chi Onwurah Labour MP; chair of science, innovation and technology committeePalantir US tech firm seeking to expand UK public sector contracts
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Labour MP Chi Onwurah criticizes Watson's role and firm dependency
Chi Onwurah, chair of the science, innovation and technology committee, warned that the UK cannot rely heavily on a single US-based company subject to US data access laws.
“Tom is not the first politician to be blinded by tech hype. The key issue is we can't be so dependent on one company. It's a US company, subject to US legislation regarding access to our data.”
— Chi Onwurah -
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'Watson told the podcast he would work with a Reform UK government on immigration crackdowns if the situation arose, saying: “[Palantir] don’t actually work in that sector, but yes, of course we would"'
2 more of the top 3 · 11 posts in this stretch
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Palantir didn't have to evade the UK's controls on lobbyists to get astonishing, unminuted access to government ministers and officials, or even to hire them to lobby their colleagues. Why not? Because there aren't any. My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Palantir is worming its way in...
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O course not Tom, perish the thought. They should be in the control of morally (at least) corrupt politicians with the ear of the government of the day. What could go wrong? After all what are you bringing to the party other than one assumes an ability to manipulate government. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202…
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background
Watson pledges Palantir would work with Reform UK on immigration — Watson told the BBC podcast that Palantir would be willing to work with a Reform UK government on immigration crackdowns if the political situation changed.
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background
Tom Watson warns against 'mob rule' in government procurement — On the BBC podcast Political Thinking, Watson defended Palantir's eligibility for UK government contracts against what he characterized as pressure from activist campaigns, framing opposition to the company as rule-of-law versus mob rule.
Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet
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first by Mastodon, 3h ago · also Guardian Business
1 more headline
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first by The Guardian, 4d ago · also Guardian
What people are saying 6 voices from 1 site · best of 11 · verbatim
- Oct 10
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Tom Watson: Don't bow to 'mob rule' on Palantir Political Thinking with Nick Robinson The former deputy Labour leader has been criticised for joining the controversial tech firm, Palantir, as it tries to persuade ministers not to cut off a huge NHS contract. How did the man who railed against Rupert Murdoch's media empire and Mark Zuckerberg's…
- Oct 9
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TL;DR: Tom Watson, former Labour deputy leader and now at Palantir, cautioned against allowing 'mob rule' to influence the awarding of government contracts, warning ministers of potential repercussions from public backlash regarding their partnerships with tech firms. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202…
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"Mob rule" meaning the electorate, the people. But minority rule by a cohort of billionaires is ok.. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202 6/oct/09/palantir-tom-watson-mob-rule-government-contracts
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# TomWatson is doing well in his new job I see. Such a striking level of commitment to democratic values. # Palantir https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202 6/oct/09/palantir-tom-watson-mob-rule-government-contracts
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I think Tom Watson has forgotten what democracy is .. https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202 6/oct/09/palantir-tom-watson-mob-rule-government-contracts He's working for Palantir now.
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Yes, Tom. The old boy network is the preferred way of awarding government contracts, isn't it? # Palantir # corruption https://www. theguardian.com/technology/202 6/oct/09/palantir-tom-watson-mob-rule-government-contracts