How secret meetings sold Britain to Thiel’s Palantir

In 2019 at Downing Street Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, and Peter Thiel – Palantir’s billionaire co-founder and chairman, met for an hour. There were no notes from this meeting. Palantir being awarded Covid contracts followed.

Liberal Democrat MP Martin Wrigley has been chasing these notes ever since, following up with multiple Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, appeals, and parliamentary questions. All have been denied. Even the documents explaining why the FOI was denied have also been denied – he told Politics Joe this week.

Palantir is taking over Britain. This is how | Martin Wrigley interview https://t.co/iQ9JcqudqV

— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) March 1, 2026

Starmer has continued this pattern of secret meetings. A February 2025 Washington meeting between  Starmer, Peter Mandelson, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp has no notes and preceded the £240 million December 2025 contract between the Ministry of Defence and Palantir.

Palantir, named after the all-seeing orb from the Lord of the Rings, wants to see everything. But when it comes to its own meetings, it seems they prefer the lights off.

However, Labour have recently said they will answer Wrigley’s questions about Starmer’s secret meeting with Palantir, pointing to previous statements and promising “further details.”

The UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee could begin releasing documents relating to Lord Mandelson’s appointment and role as US ambassador soon. A UK government spokesperson said officials were “proceeding at pace to publish the first tranche of documents in early March” and “working closely” with the ISC to fulfil their requests.

Successful lobbying by Palantir

Wrigley said the sales and marketing operations of AI companies like Palantir were so slick that “you’re probably buying the brochure, not the product.” He pointed to their accounts: vast sums on lobbying and sales, while the core business barely breaks even.

“Palantir… put an awful lot of money into lobbying and sales efforts,” Wrigley noted; he wasn’t invited to a lavish Palantir party thrown recently, adding dryly: “I wonder why.”

The Mayfair drinks reception saw CEO Louis Mosley confronted outside by Declassified UK journalists asking whether Palantir technology used in Gaza was now being sold to the British army. Mosley declined to answer and hurried inside.

We asked Palantir’s UK boss about his controversial military deal with Britain.

At a swish drinks reception in central London, Palantir celebrated its £240m contract with the MoD to sell them its AI battlefield technology👇 pic.twitter.com/t7HeZJPNpj

— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) February 21, 2026

From Epstein’s Island to the UK government

Thiel exchanged over 2,000 messages with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from 2014 until Epstein’s final arrest in 2019. Novara Media reported that:

During this period, Epstein was a significant limited partner investor in Thiel’s venture capital firm Valar Ventures – to the tune of approximately $40m.

Also central to this picture is Mandelson, whose lobbying firm Global Counsel worked for Palantir. It was Mandelson who introduced Starmer to Palantir CEO Alex Karp at that February 2025 Washington meeting,  the one with no notes that preceded the £241 million MOD contract.

Mandelson’s own extensive contacts with Epstein are now the subject of a police investigation. Global Counsel no longer exists.

Total UK government contracts now exceed £670 million – spanning the NHS, the Ministry of Defence, police forces, the Cabinet Office, and even the navy’s nuclear-powered submarines. The NHS contract alone is worth £330 million over seven years, giving one US company access to the health data of 67 million Britons.

As the ISC prepares to release documents, the question is whether sunlight will finally reach Palantir’s dealings. The 2019 meeting produced no notes. The 2025 meeting produced no notes. The documents coming may not mention Palantir at all – but maybe they will lift the veil completely.

Featured image via the Canary