Palantir lobbied to bring NHS GP records into its software, newly disclosed messages show

Palantir privately urged a health minister to consider bringing GP records into its NHS software, despite their explicit exclusion from its £330 million contract. WhatsApp messages reported by the Guardian on November 9 reveal a February 2026 lobbying push—not an approved expansion—over data that doctors warn could put patient trust at risk.

The messages were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Foxglove, a technology equity campaign group, and shared with the Guardian. They span July 2025 to March 2026 and concern exchanges with Zubir Ahmed, the former health minister. The push to include GP records came in February.

The Guardian identified the exchanges as apparently involving Palantir’s UK boss, Louis Mosley. The executive’s name was redacted in the released documents, but Palantir did not deny it was Mosley. One clue was Ahmed’s praise for an appearance on the BBC’s Sunday politics programme, shortly after Mosley had appeared.

A care argument beyond the contract

Palantir’s existing agreement covers NHS England’s Federated Data Platform, or FDP. GP data is expressly outside its scope. That boundary was public from the start: when the Conservative government announced the deal in 2023, it said, “GP data will not be part of the national platform.”

The company’s pitch challenged that separation. It called the logic of connecting primary care, such as GP services, with secondary care, such as hospital services, “unarguable”. It described Foundry, its software, as “ideal” for the task. The proposed benefits included faster access to GPs, more targeted management of frail patients and more effective preventative care.

Those were Palantir’s proposed benefits, not demonstrated results from using GP records. The company also told Ahmed that its platform would “maintain local control of data”. Its case therefore paired a wider role for its software with an assurance that NHS organisations would retain control of their information.

The correspondence also addressed how ministers should handle resistance. Palantir urged Ahmed to “get out ahead of” likely political opposition from doctors and critics of the company. It acknowledged that the previous government had ruled GP data out and warned that opponents would exploit the issue unless it was explained.

The FDP is already delivering very strong results – but will deliver even more benefits faster with the right ministerial sponsorship.

Palantir, in correspondence with Zubir Ahmed reported by the Guardian

Local control versus patient confidence

For the British Medical Association, the concern is “scope creep”. Its council chair, Tom Dolphin, warned that Palantir potentially accessing identifiable information in GP records could undermine trust and threaten the doctor-patient relationship. Patients, he said, should be able to seek care without worrying which operators might access duplicates of their personal information.

Marc Farr, chair of the NHS Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network, raised a separate governance issue. He said the proposed extension went beyond assurances from ministers and NHS leaders, and would require legislative change. Farr stressed that public trust and transparency were essential to realising the opportunities offered by technology and data.

Foxglove’s advocacy director, Donald Campbell, criticised the private route used to make the case. He described the exchanges as pressure to bring sensitive records into the platform despite the government’s earlier pledge, and argued that the correspondence showed Palantir understood how sensitive the proposal was.

In its response, Palantir defended data sharing as beneficial to patients and taxpayers, and reiterated its assurance of full local control. It said decisions about deploying the software belonged to government and that the exchanges reflected those positions. The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment.