Former Conservative attorney-general Michael Ellis KC has suggested that US tech giant Palantir could have grounds to sue London mayor Sadiq Khan. The news follows Khan blocking a £50m deal between the shady AI firm and the Metropolitan police.
Back on 22 April, the Guardian reported that Palantir was negotiating the supply of AI tools to the Met police for use in criminal investigations. The talks sparked fears within both the public and the force itself over allowing the US company access to sensitive data.
However, on 21 May, Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) exercised its power to block the deal. The mayoral department has the power to scrutinise any public procurement contract over £500,000.
MOPAC pointed out that the Met committed a “clear and serious breach” in failing to present its procurement strategy for approval. A spokesman for the mayor explained that:
given the tight budgetary constraints the police and all public services are operating under, it is even more important that robust processes are followed when awarding contracts as large as £25 million a year. The public would expect full and proper scrutiny of whether contracts like this provide value for money.
In this case, the Met only engaged with one potential supplier, Palantir. It also did not present their procurement strategy to the deputy mayor for approval as required. The process followed by the Metropolitan Police Service for the award of the contract has not adequately ensured, or demonstrated, value for money.
But the other fascist tech companies do it….
Following the Khan’s veto, the genocide-linked tech company was quick to lash out publicly. Palantir’s chief for the UK and Europe, Louis Mosley – coincidentally, the grandchild of renowned fascist Oswald Mosley – told Times Radiothat:
I think the mayor is putting politics over public safety. He talks about values but I think what Londoners’ value is not being mugged, not being raped by a serving police officer, and that’s really what the focus here should be.
Here, the Palantir boss appears to have forgotten that his company’s contract to investigate Met officers is an entirely separate deal. Conveniently, he’s also overlooked the 1,000 members of the public who emailed Khan to ask that he block the contract. Mosley also stated that:
We may work with Israel, but so does Amazon, and so does Microsoft. We may work with the Trump administration supporting the immigration enforcement arm of his government, so does Amazon, so does Microsoft … why do we get singled out?
Mosely makes good point here – a rarity for the Palantir chief. The UK’s public services should also drop Amazon and Microsoft as soon as possible. After all, both of them work with genocidal Israel and the bloody-handed Trump administration.
‘Values and ethics’ is it now?
Following Mosley’s public tirade, ex-attorney general Michael Ellis decided to throw his unwelcome hat into the ring. On 24 May, he characterised MOPAC’s move as:
an extraordinary intervention, which may be susceptible to judicial review.
By way of explanation, he told the Timesthat:
according to Khan’s own office, his decision appears to be based, at least in part, on Khan’s political sensibilities, namely how he views the values and ethics of this American company.
As a reminder, Khan’s office based its decision on the Met’s failure to follow procurement procedures. However, it would be perfectly correct to call out Palantir’s (lack of) basic morality. Karp, for example, has already admitted to his company’s involvement in Israel’s murderous pager attacks in Lebanon.
Ellis added that:
Bedfordshire police, the NHS and other UK public bodies already have contracts with Palantir, which is said to have far superior technology than others in the security space.
This is perfectly true. However, the fact that the Labour government already is in deep with the amoral tech giant is hardly reason to keep digging. Palantir, as a reminder, already holds £600m in contracts with UK public bodies.
Not that the Tories are off the hook here either. Byline Times calculated that – between 2014 and 2023 – the UK blew £244.5m on Palantir products for its public bodies.
Oh, please don’t reduce officer numbers…
Ellis also argued that:
even the Met Police themselves have said that they may now have to reduce officer numbers as a consequence of Khan blocking this contract, so the safety of Londoners may be adversely affected by a political intervention. If I were Palantir, I would be seeking legal advice as to whether Khan’s actions could be overturned by the courts.
Hold on a second there. Palantir’s own tech already flagged hundreds of ‘rogue’ cops within the Met. Their crimes reportedly ranged from corruption to fraud, and even sexual offenses. Maybe we reduce the number of officers and wait to see if Londoners are, in fact, safer without them before we acting too hastily?
Of course, once one Conservative’s had a go at a public complaint, they all want a turn. Ex-police minister turned shadow home secretary Chris Philp chimed in to state he had:
no doubt [that] Palantir has an extremely strong case for judicial review of Khan’s decision, to get it overturned. I strongly encourage Palantir to do that.
Philp also accused the London mayor of having:
engaged in juvenile political posturing instead of allowing the Metropolitan Police to get on with using a system which they have chosen because it would help catch criminals and keep London safe.
Quite the contrary, we’d argue that blocking an opaque £50m deal between the Met and a company that’s actively aiding Trump’s fascism in the US makes Khan one of the few Labour bigwigs who’s actually doing his damn job.
Quick, someone tell the rest of the absolute shower that is the PLP – taking a stand against an openly authoritatian, anti-democratic surveillance company might even make them look a little bit left wing. Failing that, it’d at least save the penny-pinchers a few hundred million quid.
Featured image via the Canary
From Canary via This RSS Feed.
The audacity of these people I swear
