NHS halts Palantir training amid pressure from Labour MPs and pro-Palestine lobby to scrap £330m contract

Published: 12:53, 18 August 2026 | Updated: 12:53, 18 August 2026 The NHS scrapped plans to train staff on how to use technology made by Palantir over fears of a backlash. The Florida-based firm has helped develop a new data platform for the NHS to bring together information from across the service. Official figures show that an extra 110,000 operations have gone ahead since the Federated Data Platform (FDP) was introduced. But plans to train more staff on how to use the technology were ditched following negative press attention. Tom Bartlett, former deputy director of data engineering at NHS England, was asked to hold a national webinar by a senior member of the NHS Information Skills Development Network (ISDN). Palantir was co-founded in 2003 by libertarian billionaire and PayPal founder Peter Thiel (pictured), an outspoken critic of the NHS who gave more than $1million to the 2016 Trump presidential campaign But he was later told that the network's leaders had blocked the session because they did not want to be 'associated with it'. Palantir has come under fire from some MPs, particularly those on the hard-Left, as well as pro-Palestine protestors, for also providing technology for US immigration enforcement and the Israeli army. Mr Bartlett, who has no links to Palantir, said he was told that ISDN bosses had said that 'because of the articles that are coming out about Palantir, they don't want to be associated with it' and 'now was not the right time' for his training session. More than half of NHS trusts now use the new data platform and all trusts are expected to adopt it by April 2028. It is designed to bring together information from across the health service so it can be better analysed and improve care.  But its future is uncertain as Palantir's £330million contract with the NHS is up for review next year. The Labour-led Science and Technology Committee and the British Medical Association have called for it to be scrapped. However, Mr Bartlett believes Palantir has been the victim of misinformation and a campaign of intimidation. Louis Mosley, the UK boss of tech firm Palantir, has said it would be 'irresponsible' to scrap its NHS contract when it is delivering better care for thousands of patients He told the Mail he had been called a 'genocide-supporter' and had seen women followed out of Palantir's headquarters by angry protesters. He said this had created a 'culture of silence' around the issue and called on Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to speak out. 'The Secretary of State for Health hasn't said anything about it,' he said. 'The Prime Minister hasn't said anything about it. No one feels able to talk about it. 'The Federated Data Platform is supposed to be accelerating, not decelerating. There needs to be staff who understand it, but they don't know what it is because they have not had the training.' He added: 'The culture gets set at the top. They need to set that culture of openness and of collaboration, not of silence and fear. And that's what the campaign [against Palantir] has created.' The ISDN is an NHS-run network created to help digital staff develop their skills. NHS England said: 'While NHS England does not run events for this network, free sessions are provided on the FDP if NHS staff need further information about the technology.' Louis Mosley, the UK boss of tech firm Palantir, has previously said it would be 'irresponsible' to scrap its NHS contract when it is delivering better care for thousands of patients. However, NHS England recently commissioned an 'independent evaluation' of Palantir's tracking tools in hospitals after an analysis found its data software did not improve discharge rates. This contradicted previous claims from NHS England that the software cut the number of patients facing delayed discharge by 15 per cent.