Former Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson Takes Job at AI Company Palantir

Tom Watson, a well-known British politician and former deputy leader of the Labour Party, has taken a full-time job at Palantir, a powerful American artificial intelligence company. Palantir makes software that governments and police forces use to analyze large amounts of data. The company is facing pressure in the UK over some of its biggest contracts, and Watson's job will be to help the company keep and win more government work.

Palantir has a £330 million contract with the NHS, which is Britain's national health service. Some politicians, including Andy Burnham — who once worked alongside Watson in government — want to cancel that deal. The company is also in a legal fight with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who blocked a £50 million contract that would have let Palantir use its AI to help the Metropolitan Police solve crimes. Despite these battles, Palantir already earns about £427 million a year in the UK and wants to win even more public sector work.

The company was co-founded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire who supports former US President Donald Trump. Palantir provides AI tools to the Israeli military and has helped the White House with its immigration crackdown, which has made many people angry about its growing role in British public life. Alex Karp, Palantir's chief executive, praised Watson's hire by saying it was 'the latest chapter of Tom's forty-year fight for better public services.' Watson himself said he was 'terrifically excited' about the new role, where he will serve as a senior vice-president.

Watson left parliament in 2019 and since then has worked as an adviser to the gambling and music industries. He had already been a part-time adviser to Palantir since 2024, sometimes joining the company's UK boss, Louis Mosley, at Labour Party conferences. Before that, Watson served as a defence minister and a minister for digital engagement under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Palantir also has a separate £240 million contract with the UK Ministry of Defence.

Watson's new job is part of a growing trend called the 'revolving door,' where top politicians leave government and then go to work for big technology companies. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg worked for Facebook's parent company Meta for nearly seven years. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took jobs with two AI companies, Anthropic and Microsoft, and former Chancellor George Osborne started working for OpenAI. Even Matt Clifford, who advised current Prime Minister Keir Starmer on AI, recently joined Anthropic, though he had to quit a government research role because of concerns about conflicts of interest.

Critics say this trend is a serious problem. Tom Brake, the head of a campaign group called Unlock Democracy, warned that big tech companies gain an unfair advantage when they hire people who used to work in government. He called for a strict five-year ban on former ministers taking jobs in the industries they once regulated. Palantir said Watson has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords and has given up his parliamentary pass while he works for the company in London.