The Healthy Secretary has been urged not to bow to Zack Polanski’s demands to cancel ‘transformative’ NHS technology over the firm’s links to Donald Trump.
A leaked memo from Ming Tang, chief data officer at NHS England, last week said the data platform Palantir was delivering ‘outstanding results’ with ‘faster diagnosis, faster referrals, faster treatments’ by collating patient information in one place.
But Wes Streeting is under pressure from the Green Party leader and Left-wing doctors’ associations to cut ties with the company because of its links to the US army and controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
In January, Mr Polanski told Palantir ‘to get the hell out of our NHS’.
A Whitehall source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Thanks to Palantir, there will be 100,000 additional operations and 250,000 accelerated discharges in the next 12 months and savings of £780million over seven years.
‘Rather than subject under-pressure hospitals to yet another protracted and distracting government U-turn, Wes should confirm now whether he is finally going to cancel this contract.’
The source added: ‘Polanski calling the shots on Government policy. This is a litmus test of whether that’s the world we’re in – a crank hypnotherapist telling him how to run our health system.’
Mr Polanski has attracted ridicule for his past claim to be able to increase the size of women’s breasts through hypnosis.
Palantir was awarded a seven-year, £330million contract to create the new data management system in 2023.
Its CEO, Alex Karp, last year boasted Palantir was the first company to be ‘completely anti-woke.’
He repeatedly said it is supporting the ‘American warfighter’ and committed to free speech – telling investors they are ‘fighting for the right side of what should work in this country’.
Karp, who is worth $18.4 billion largely thanks to Palantir’s stock appreciation over the last several years, discussed how his company powers Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other war efforts around the world.
‘We power efforts to defend America and Ukraine,’ he said. ‘We’re on the front line of all adversaries, including vis-a-vis China… and we’ve supported Israel.’
‘I don’t know why this is all controversial, but many people find that controversial,’ he added.
President Donald Trump was ridiculed on Friday for touting Palantir Technologies on his social media – in which he included the stock ticker, prompting questions about who may have purchased the stock before the President celebrated it.
The White House denied that any administration officials had misused nonpublic information for their own financial gain.
‘President Trump has been crystal clear: While he seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit,’ White House spokesman David Ingle said in a statement.
