New defence secretary Wes Streeting has taken tens of thousands of pounds from donors linked to Palantir and arms companies supplying Israel during its genocide in Gaza.

New defence secretary Wes Streeting has taken tens of thousands of pounds from donors linked to Palantir and arms companies supplying Israel during its genocide in Gaza.

Streeting, the former health secretary, received £20k in June from Daniel Luhde-Thompson, a strategic adviser at Quadrature Capital – a hedge fund which was exposed for holding $121m worth of shares in arms companies making Israeli fighter jets and bombs in 2024.

Quadrature’s most recent US filings show it currently owns a stake of nearly $35m in US spytech firm Palantir, according to analysis by the National.

The MP for Ilford North has also accepted seven donations totalling £31,750 from Trevor Chinn, a senior advisor to private equity giant CVC Capital Partners. CVC is the majority owner of Ontic, which has held two military export licences to Israel since 2021, according to Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

Chinn himself is a pro-Israel lobbyist who was awarded the Israeli presidential medal of honour for services to the state of Israel in 2024, and funded the Labour Together think tank that commissioned a US firm to spy on British journalists.

Streeting’s most recent donation from Chinn – a single £12k payment – was listed on 17 June when he was considered a potential Labour leadership challenger.

During his tenure as Keir Starmer’s health secretary, Streeting was criticised for accepting donations worth more than £200,000 from people and companies linked to private healthcare.

Streeting also defended the use of Palantir technology in the NHS despite the company’s involvement with the Israeli military and ICE in the US, describing the company as “absolutely critical to the future of the NHS”.

Scottish National Party MSP Zen Ghani told the National: “Wes Streeting holds the record for private healthcare donations and it landed him the health secretary job.

“There are questions to answer here for the Labour party as yet again we see donations linked to companies appearing to fund Israeli arms throughout the genocide in Gaza.”

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