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BusinessActive today · day 7

Tom Watson joins Palantir as UK firm battles NHS contract pushback

Former Labour deputy leader takes full-time role at controversial AI company amid government pressure and court battles.

newest coverage 1h agosummary written 6d ago34 pieces1.6k likes & upvotes179 comments MastodonNewswiresGoogle NewsHacker NewsRedditXBluesky

What to know

  • Palantir has elevated Tom Watson from part-time adviser to full-time senior vice-president as it battles government pressure over a £330m NHS contract and court action by Sadiq Khan over a £50m police AI deal.
  • Watson's hiring exemplifies a pattern of senior British politicians joining major tech firms post-office—Clegg, Sunak, Osborne, and Starmer's AI adviser Clifford have all taken lucrative tech roles.
  • Watchdogs argue the revolving door creates conflicts of interest, as former officials with privileged government knowledge move directly into industry advocacy.
most voices

Watson's hiring exemplifies corrupt revolving-door politics and represents a brazen conflict of interest.

  • “If you were short on evidence that Tom Watson is, in fact, a cunt”

    davey_cakes · Mastodon ↗

“speed up NHS diagnosis, treatment and discharge from hospitals and enable 'our police to crack crimes and root out corruption'”

Tom Watson, New Palantir SVP · The Guardian ↗ · Sep 17

Tom Watson Senior Vice-President at Palantir, former Labour deputy leaderPalantir Technologies US AI software companyAndy BurnhamAndy Burnham UK Prime MinisterSadiq KhanSadiq Khan London Mayor

Tom Watson joins Palantir as UK firm battles NHS contract pushback
theguardian.com

How it unfolded 2 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 7 pieces in two hours at Sep 18, 2 AM; 34 pieces over 7 days (11 articles · 22 posts · 1 comment) Sep 17, 6 PM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Mastodon 1, Newswires 1Sep 17, 8 PM — quietSep 17, 10 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 18, 12 AM — 5 pieces · 5 articles — Newswires 3, Google News 1, Mastodon 1Sep 18, 2 AM — 7 pieces · 7 posts — Mastodon 5, Hacker News 1, X 1Sep 18, 4 AM — 4 pieces · 4 posts — Mastodon 3, Reddit 1Sep 18, 6 AM — 4 pieces · 1 article · 2 posts · 1 comment — Mastodon 2, Reddit 1, Newswires 1Sep 18, 8 AM — 4 pieces · 4 posts — Mastodon 3, Hacker News 1Sep 18, 10 AM — quietSep 18, 12 PM — quietSep 18, 2 PM — quietSep 18, 4 PM — quietSep 18, 6 PM — quietSep 18, 8 PM — quietSep 18, 10 PM — quietSep 19, 12 AM — quietSep 19, 2 AM — quietSep 19, 4 AM — quietSep 19, 6 AM — quietSep 19, 8 AM — quietSep 19, 10 AM — quietSep 19, 12 PM — quietSep 19, 2 PM — quietSep 19, 4 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Bluesky 1Sep 19, 6 PM — quietSep 19, 8 PM — quietSep 19, 10 PM — quietSep 20, 12 AM — quietSep 20, 2 AM — quietSep 20, 4 AM — quietSep 20, 6 AM — quietSep 20, 8 AM — quietSep 20, 10 AM — quietSep 20, 12 PM — quietSep 20, 2 PM — quietSep 20, 4 PM — quietSep 20, 6 PM — quietSep 20, 8 PM — quietSep 20, 10 PM — quietSep 21, 12 AM — quietSep 21, 2 AM — quietSep 21, 4 AM — quietSep 21, 6 AM — quietSep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 10 AM — quietSep 21, 12 PM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 4 PM — quietSep 21, 6 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 10 PM — quietSep 22, 12 AM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 4 AM — quietSep 22, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Mastodon 1Sep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 10 AM — quietSep 22, 12 PM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 4 PM — quietSep 22, 6 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 4 AM — quietYesterday, 6 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — quietYesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — quietToday, 6 AM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Mastodon 2, Newswires 1Today, 8 AM — quietToday, 10 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Today, 12 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1 12
Sep 18Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 2:25 PM ET
  1. 2

    Critics highlight revolving door between politics and big tech

    Tom Brake, chief executive of Unlock Democracy, criticizes the pattern of senior UK politicians joining tech companies, pointing to Nick Clegg at Meta, Rishi Sunak at Anthropic and Microsoft, George Osborne at OpenAI, and Matt Clifford at Anthropic. Brake calls for an enforceable five-year ban on post-government tech industry work.

    “The revolving door is proving very fruitful for big tech. The only surefire way to stop tech companies benefiting from privileged information acquired by ministers or senior civil servants is to introduce an enforceable five-year ban on taking up industry posts.”
    — Tom Brake

    • Revolving doors. Labour peer and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson joins Palantir. Palantir is trying to save its £330m NHS contract, wants more public contracts. Nick Clegg, Rishi Sunak, George Osborne and others have taken similar jobs.

      @premnsikkaX6d ago1.3k▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 15 posts in this stretch

    • Former deputy leader of Labour announces he is joining Palantir

      skinnylatte@hachyderm.ioMastodon6d ago65▲view on Mastodon ↗
    • samillingworth.com

      🚪 Palantir hires Tom Watson The former Labour deputy leader joins as the NHS's £330m Palantir deal nears a February 2027 break clause a minister says could be used. 🔗 theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/18/former-labour-deputy-leader-tom-watson-joins-palantir #Palantir #NHS #AI

      samillingworth.comBluesky4d ago6▲view on Bluesky ↗
    all of them →
  2. 1

    Palantir promotes Tom Watson to full-time executive

    Palantir Technologies announces the promotion of Tom Watson from part-time adviser to full-time senior vice-president, positioned to work alongside Louis Mosley as the company faces political pressure over major UK contracts.

    “This is just the latest chapter of Tom's forty-year fight for better public services.”
    — Alex Karp
  3. background

    Tom Watson becomes part-time adviser to Palantir — Watson, who stepped down from parliament in 2019, takes on a part-time advisory role at Palantir, including accompanying the company's UK and Europe chief executive Louis Mosley at Labour party conferences.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 3 outlets Palantir hires ex-Labour deputy Tom Watson to shore up UK operations amid NHS deal scrutiny

    first by Seeking Alpha, 6d ago · also Guardian, The Register

    3 more headlines
  2. 2 outlets Tom Watson’s move to Palantir is the latest sign of how far the rot has spread in UK politics

    first by Mastodon, 7h ago · also Guardian Business

    1 more headline

and 1 smaller piece

What people are saying 12 voices from 2 sites · best of 15 · verbatim