London Mayor Sadiq Khan will have his text messages and emails searched as part of a legal battle over the blocking of a £50 million deal between the Metropolitan Police and technology firm Palantir, the High Court has been told.
Palantir is suing the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac), which is part of the Mayor’s Office, over its decision in May to block the Met from agreeing to a two-year deal with the firm to provide AI technology to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations.
The decision came amid calls from unions and pro-Palestine activists for the government to cut ties with Palantir, which already holds contracts with the NHS, due to its links to the Israeli military and US immigration enforcement agencies.
A full hearing of the case is due to be held in January next year.
At a preliminary hearing on Thursday, the High Court was told that the mayor, now Lord Khan, and more than a dozen other Mopac and Greater London Authority officials will be classed as “custodians”.
This means their digital communications, including text messages, WhatsApp messages, and Microsoft Teams chats insofar as they exist, will be searched for anything relevant to the issues in the legal battle, and disclosed to Palantir.
Joseph Barrett KC, for Mopac, said in written submissions: “Mopac did not originally consider it necessary or proportionate for the mayor to be added as a custodian, given that the decision was taken by the deputy mayor for policing and crime; his senior position; and the likelihood that any documents held by him would be held by other individuals.
“However, Palantir has persisted in its requests, and Mopac has consented on a pragmatic basis.”
Also listed as a custodian is Sarah Brown, who was appointed as Downing Street’s director of communications in July after working as Khan’s director of communications and strategy.
It comes after Palantir said in court documents outlining its claim that press articles on Mopac’s refusal to approve the deal cited concerns about Palantir’s values and ethics, with Mopac since confirming Brown “initiated” press briefings about the move.
The date range for the searches is to be determined at the hearing in London before Mr Justice Constable.
Blocking the contract earlier this year, Mopac said Palantir was the only supplier the Met had seriously considered for the proposed contract.
It also said the force failed to present its procurement strategy to Mopac for approval in a “clear and serious breach” of procedure, meaning City Hall could not ensure value for money.
Palantir then filed a legal claim against Mopac at the High Court in June, with lawyers for the company claiming in court documents that the body introduced an “unlawful veto” by wrongly considering the firm’s “values and ethics” when deciding to block the contract.
It is seeking a declaration that Mopac has acted unlawfully, an order quashing the decision, and an order that the contract be awarded to the claimant.
Mopac’s lawyers claim the Met’s procurement strategy was unlawful or “gave rise to an unacceptable risk of unlawfulness”, meaning its decision was the only one that it “could lawfully and/or realistically reach”.
The Met has since begun working on a new procurement process for the contract.
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