Palantir and London Mayor's Office Settle Lawsuit Over £50 Million Police AI Contract

What happened

Both sides issued a joint statement on Wednesday announcing they had resolved Palantir's lawsuit over the blocked contract and withdrawn their allegations against each other. The deal was a two-year contract to use Palantir's AI systems to automate certain policing tasks and analyse evidence.

The mayor's office had previously refused to approve the deal, telling the Met Police it had failed to hold an open competition; separate reports quoted a spokesperson for Khan citing concerns that Palantir did not align with “London's values”. But the joint statement said the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC)'s decision “was not based on Palantir's values or ethics or any wider reporting about the company”, that MOPAC “does not have, and has never had, any policy of not contracting with Palantir”, and that the company is welcome to participate in any procurement processes.

Key facts

1. Contract value: £50 million (about $66 million), a two-year deal to use Palantir's AI systems to automate policing tasks and analyse evidence.
2. Reasons for blocking: The mayor's office said the police had failed to hold an open competition; reports quoted a spokesperson for Khan raising concerns that Palantir did not align with “London's values”.
3. Settlement statement: Both sides withdrew their allegations against each other; MOPAC said the decision was not based on Palantir's values or ethics, and that it never had a policy of not contracting with Palantir.
4. Wider context: Britain is reviewing a £330 million NHS contract with Palantir; a parliamentary committee previously said the company had a “clear mismatch with UK values” and recommended using a break clause; Palantir's British CEO Louis Mosley called the suggestion “irresponsible”.

Background

Palantir supplies software to the US military and immigration services, and co-founder Peter Thiel's political views have drawn scrutiny. Reuters notes European governments are growing increasingly wary about dependency on US tech platforms. HIMIAO previously reported on Palantir and Ondas forming sovereign-AI joint venture Regna AI (2026-10-13 flash), another of the company's European business lines.