Palantir wins a three-year, £240 million contract from the UK Ministry of Defence for "data analytics capabilities supporting critical strategic, tactical and live operational decision making across classifications" in the armed forces. The contract — more than three times larger than any Palantir had previously won with the MOD — was awarded without competitive tender.
The Revolving Door
An openDemocracy investigation reveals that Palantir hired four ex-Ministry of Defence officials in the period before securing the contract:
The MOD imposed restrictions on Kistruck's appointment, barring use of government information or contacts to give Palantir an unfair advantage. However, critics noted that the mere pattern of systematic recruitment from the client agency — four hires in a single year — creates structural conflicts of interest regardless of individual restrictions.
Significance
The contract demonstrates Palantir's international expansion of the same capture model perfected in the United States: embed surveillance infrastructure in government decision-making systems, hire former officials to smooth procurement, and secure sole-source contracts that create dependency. Progressive International described it as a "Ministry of Defence-to-Palantir pipeline." An Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament raised concerns about sovereign control, democratic oversight, and the appropriateness of awarding critical national security infrastructure to a U.S.-owned company with deep ties to American intelligence agencies.