Sadiq Khan 'backs down' over £50million Met Police deal with AI software firm

Sadiq Khan and a US technology firm have agreed to drop legal proceedings over a £50million Metropolitan Police deal.

Palantir, a Florida-based software company, brought a claim against the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) after it blocked a contract for the US firm to provide artificial intelligence and data analysis services to the London police force.

The Mayor of London's office argued in May the deal was a "clear and serious breach" of procurement rules.

But the CEO of Palantir UK, Louis Mosley, accused Lord Khan of leaving the force "fighting criminals with their hands tied behind their back" in an interview with GB News.

He also said, at the time, that Lord Khan had blocked the deal because Palantir's "values" did not align with London's.

A full trial was expected in January.

But on Wednesday, both sides agreed to "settle their differences" and drop allegations without admitting liability.

In an agreed statement, both sides said Mopac's decision to block the contract was "not based on Palantir's values or ethics or any wider reporting about the company".

Mopac, however, said it "recognises Palantir’s concerns that media reporting of a statement from the Mayor's spokesperson before the decision was taken could have incorrectly created the impression that an assessment of the company’s values had been a factor in that decision".

Both sides have agreed to pay their own legal fees.

Lord Khan also released a statement as the case was dropped.

He said: "London is the technology capital of Europe, and I am proud that leading software firms choose the city as their home."

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The London Mayor continued: "Palantir makes a significant contribution to jobs and investment in the capital, employing a large number of Londoners whose services have been procured legally by organisations across the UK and beyond."

The settlement followed Palantir's hiring of former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson in a lobbying role.

Mopac said in its statement that its decision to block the Peter Thiel and Alex Karp-founded firm was based upon its "statutory role of examining spend proposals against the appropriate legal tests and the relevant guidance on procurement, governance, affordability and ensuring value for money for Londoners".

The mayor's office added it had focused on "available information at the time" and was "happy to correct any contrary impression".

The agreed statement said it would work with the Met and re-run a competitive procurement process for the unified operational analytics (UOA) solution, which Palantir is "free and welcome" to participate in.

The procurement process will now be run with "all due expediency", it added.

"The Mayor remains clear that London’s public services must be able to use modern technology to keep Londoners safe and improve outcomes, while ensuring all procurements are lawful, fair, transparent and deliver value for money," the statement concluded.

Mr Watson said: "This case sought an answer to a simple question: Are the rules that protect taxpayers in public procurement still applied fairly to everyone?

"The mayor and his team have recognised their actions could have created the impression that the decision to block the UOA contract was based on Palantir's values.

"I'm very pleased that they have today corrected any such impression, and that even in the face of extreme provocation from highly organised pressure groups, decisions about deploying technology can still be made on their merits and in the public interest."