Zack Polanski says NHS figure lobbying for Palantir ‘absolutely stinks’

A new report has revealed how a “senior NHS official” who was also advising evil tech giant Palantir lobbied in private for “a Palantir-built platform” to get even more patient data. And Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has been pushing to “get Palantir out of the NHS”, rightly insisted that:

This absolutely stinks.

A lobbyist who worked directly for Peter Mandelson, on the Palantir board, and on the board of *four* NHS trusts.

Lobbying the NHS to hand over even more patient data to Palantir.

This absolutely stinks. Get Palantir out of the NHS. Sign my petition:https://t.co/IY4bm5aWas pic.twitter.com/dJFPhzxQGz

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) March 5, 2026

He also linked to a petition of his, which calls on prime minister Keir Starmer to:

Stop Palantir taking over our public services!

As the Canary has detailed, Palantir is a powerful, pro-Israel firm with deep ties to Western security agencies and far-right politics. It influences governments while benefiting from war crimes and surveillance contracts. It has also had close links to scumbags, lobbyists, and politicians like Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Peter Mandelson.

As Polanski’s petition clarifies, Palantir has been:

embedding itself into our public services – including running a huge patient database for our NHS

There’s some hope, though. Because:

right now we’ve got a major chance to get their NHS deal scrapped – and kick start a domino effect that sees ALL their contracts ended.

By putting enough pressure on the government, Polanski believes ordinary people may convince ministers to “cancel the NHS deal early”.

Palantir’s creeping power in the NHS

Under both Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, off-the-books meetings with Palantir coincided with massive government contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds. And in a murky setup of low transparency and high lobbying influence, Palantir has got its grubby hands on more and more sensitive public data.

Starmer’s ‘transparency’ minister, meanwhile, has been trying to protect Palantir from scrutiny.

Now, the Financial Times has released a report further fuelling fears about the blurred lines between public officials and corporations. It explained that NHS bigwig Matthew Swindells:

• “Was deputy chief executive and chief operating officer for NHS England until July 2019”.
• “Was also a member of Palantir’s health advisory board from September 2019 until April 2022”.
• Has worked with Carnall-Farrar Healthcare strategy consultancy since February 2022.
• “Has been joint chair of four major hospital trusts in north-west London since April 2022”.
• “Acted as an adviser to Palantir through the now-defunct lobbying firm Global Counsel, which was co-founded by Lord Peter Mandelson” until its collapse last month.

And though he believes he acted within guidelines:

In May 2024 Swindells told other senior NHS executives in an email that patient data from GPs in north-west London should be added to a platform Palantir has developed for the NHS.

As Centre for Health and Public Interest director David Rowland said:

The idea that the public interest can be protected simply by officials declaring and managing these conflicts behind closed doors is a nonsense…

The rules in this area need to be massively strengthened… In the light of the Mandelson scandal, parliament needs to get a grip on the relationship between senior officials, lobbyists and private companies.

This needs to stop. And supporting Polanski’s petition is a good first step to making that happen.

Featured image via the Canary