Labour MP Clive Lewis has condemned Tom Watson's move to Palantir, saying it signals how far the rot in UK democracy has spread. The former Labour deputy leader has joined the surveillance and military targeting company as a senior vice-president.
Lewis, writing in an opinion piece, said Watson's appointment is more than a private career choice. It sends another signal to the public about the state of democracy.
A company built on surveillance
Lewis noted that Watson once criticised mass surveillance by the Home Office but now finds Palantir "the most interesting … on the planet". Palantir's co-founder Peter Thiel wrote in 2009 that he no longer believed freedom and democracy were compatible, and its CEO Alex Karp has boasted its work is there "to scare enemies and on occasion kill them".
Palantir's software is used to target people for ICE raids in the US and civilians in Gaza, Lewis said.
Access and influence
Lewis questioned whether Palantir hires Watson for access to networks across party and government, particularly regarding a £330m NHS England contract and a £50m Metropolitan police contract that Palantir has legally challenged.
Watson will join more than 30 former UK officials at Palantir, which was a client of Peter Mandelson's former lobbying firm Global Counsel. Mandelson accompanied Keir Starmer to Palantir's Washington office in 2025 while retaining a stake in Global Counsel. The MoD has since signed a major partnership with Palantir.
The integrity gap
Lewis said the rules on jobs for former ministers last only two years and have no legal force. He cited Tony Blair's relationship with Oracle, Mandelson and Global Counsel, and Nick Clegg at Meta as examples of the political class switching sides.
He referenced an Institute for Public Policy Research finding that 72% of all £1m-plus donations from individuals since 2001 had come since 2019. Lewis called this the "integrity gap": the widening gulf between what governments say and what people believe.
Lewis argued the gap will close only with revolving-door rules with legal force, a regulator with teeth, capping political donations, ending second jobs in the House of Commons, abolishing the House of Lords, and public ownership of things like health data and water.
