“We are putting Palantir on notice,” said Polanski, in a video filmed outside Palantir’s office. “This is a military surveillance company tied to authoritarian surveillance and the devastation in Gaza – and it has no role in our NHS.”

The government’s close relationship with Palantir is also raising questions as Europe grapples with Trump’s erratic foreign policy, including his threats to invade Greenland and punish European leaders who stand in his way with tariffs.

Palantir was founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, a close ally of Trump who donated to his 2016 presidential campaign, using money from the CIA. Senior figures at the firm have continually stressed its unwavering commitment to US “domination”.

‘Loving life at Palantir’

The last time Palantir hired several former UK civil servants in quick succession was in late 2022, around the time that it signed its first ‘Enterprise Agreement’ with the Ministry of Defence, a deal that was at the time worth £75m.

In April 2023, five months after Polly Scully was appointed Palantir’s ‘senior counsellor: UK government’, she personally invited then-armed forces minister James Heappey to a reception the firm was hosting in London to celebrate the signing of the agreement.

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for joining us on Wednesday night,” she wrote in an email to Heappey days after the event. It was great to have such significant support for the Enterprise Agreement; I hope you had a good time.

“We are still figuring out what partnership between MoD and industry means in practice, but I’m sure some of it is about building trusted relationships, and hopefully we did some of that on Wednesday night.”

Scully was well-placed to help the firm develop trusted relationships with the MoD; she’d recently left a position as its strategic director, and had worked in a variety of senior roles across the department over the previous eight years – a fact she acknowledged in her email to Heappey.

“As I mentioned I am loving life at Palantir but MoD still has a big place in my heart,” she wrote.

Scully wasn’t the first former crown servant to be tasked with building the firm’s ties with government, as openDemocracy reported in 2023. It seems likely she won’t be the last.

When openDemocracy approached Palantir to ask about its recent hires from the Ministry of Defence, it responded via a spokesperson who worked at the Ministry of Defence in 2015/16.

The spokesperson, who has also held roles as a special adviser in No 10 and the Conservative Party’s co-director of communications, said: “Palantir requires all staff to adhere to any non-compete clauses or business appointment rules advice – as has been the case in both of these instances.”

An MOD spokesperson said: “We conduct comprehensive due diligence on any business appointments that may lead to concern.

“We work diligently to enforce any conditions placed on individuals, fully investigating instances raised of breached policy and, if found valid, take appropriate action.”

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