Full Breakdown
Palantir and Mayor Sadiq Khan End Legal Dispute Over London Police AI Deal
By Drooid · · How we work
Legal Standoff Concludes
Palantir Technologies and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) announced that they have withdrawn all mutual allegations, averting a High Court trial that had been scheduled for January. The dispute stemmed from Mayor Sadiq Khan’s intervention in May, which halted a proposed two-year, £50 million contract for the Metropolitan Police to deploy an artificial-intelligence system called Unified Operational Analytics (UOA). Palantir had sued Mopac in June, claiming the mayor’s actions breached procurement rules.
Background and Contract Details
The contested contract would have enabled Scotland Yard to use AI for processing intelligence in criminal investigations. Khan had previously argued that public funds should not go to companies whose “values and ethics” conflict with those of the city, citing Palantir’s work with the Israeli military and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Palantir’s UK and Europe head, Louis Mosley, countered that the mayor was politicising procurement and putting politics above public safety. In response to the controversy, Palantir hired former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as a full-time lobbyist a month before the legal filings.
Official Statements & Responses
Mopac issued a joint statement asserting that its May decision to block the contract was based solely on statutory procurement criteria, not on Palantir’s values or any media reporting. The office added that it recognised Palantir’s concern that earlier media coverage might have created a misleading impression. Khan emphasized London’s status as Europe’s technology capital and highlighted Palantir’s contribution to jobs and investment in the city. Watson said the parties had corrected any impression that the decision was value-based and that technology deployments could proceed on merit.
Implications and Next Steps
Both sides will bear their own legal costs, with no admissions of liability or damages paid. A new procurement process for the £50 million police technology deal is now under way; Mopac has pledged to treat Palantir “fairly and equally” if it submits a bid, while retaining discretion to award the contract to another supplier. The resolution removes immediate legal uncertainty but leaves Palantir’s broader £330 million NHS medical-data contract under public scrutiny.