The Ministry of Defence asked the controversial US tech firm how to fix its procurement rules. Its answer? Fewer obstacles for companies like Palanti
Palantir led a closed-door review of how the Ministry of Defence buys software at the same time as the ministry handed the controversial US tech firm a £240m contract without competition, Democracy for Sale can reveal.
The review, presented personally to defence minister Luke Pollard by Palantir’s UK boss Louis Mosley in February, urged the MoD to cut “paperwork”, relax scrutiny of new deals and expand existing contracts without fresh competition.
Of the review’s 35 recommendations, only one was rejected outright. Internal documents obtained by Democracy for Sale – and published below this newsletter – show that the MoD subsequently reported significant progress in implementing the proposals.
Palantir’s role in shaping MoD procurement policy was not disclosed to the public and was only revealed following Freedom of Information requests by this newsletter.
Responding to our findings, Spotlight on Corruption’s Dr Sue Hawley called for “a full review by the National Audit Office as to whether the MoD is following conflict of interest rules”.
Artwork: Filippo Marra/Novara Media | Photo: Roger Harris/House of Commons
‘They will not shut me up.’
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Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, revealed that he had received a letter from Palantir’s new UK senior VP, Tom Watson, warning him that the company was surveilling his activities relating to Palantir last month. Lewis described this as “very Big Brother” and an “implicit threat”.
Watson is a former minister and Labour party deputy leader who now sits in the House of Lords, alongside his Palantir job.
Lewis told Novara Media the Mosley letters in June indicate that Palantir was panicking as the Starmer administration crumbled. “They put all their eggs in one basket with Starmer, and then the writing on the wall was that he wasn’t going to be around much longer.”
US President Donald Trump (R) greets Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on September 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Under Donald Trump, there’s a two-tiered justice system,” said one watchdog leader. “Big Tech plays by a different set of rules because they bought their way in.”
A newly revealed list of companies and billionaire CEOs who donated millions of dollars to President Donald Trump’s ballroom construction project shows that Big Tech, according to one government watchdog, “bankrolled it fully expecting a return on their investment.”
The list, first reported by The Washington Post, doesn’t just show the $25 million donations from tech giant Apple, the pro-Israel Adelson Family Foundation, and microchip firm Nvidia—the latter of which requested anonymity.
It also reveals previously undisclosed donors who have benefited from a presidential pardon as well as government contracts and at least one closed federal investigation.
This is what corruption is all about:
Last year Trump gave $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1%.
Now his billionaire pals are returning the favor by giving him $330 million for his fancy ballroom.
We don’t want a government of, by and for the billionaire class. FIGHT BACK.
The 57 donors whose names were published by the Post had committed to contributing at least $100,000 to the ballroom construction project, which is proceeding for now following a Supreme Court ruling in August.
The list shows a total of $333 million contributed from private donors, but does not include Trump’s name, though the president has said the demolition of the White House’s East Wing and the construction of the ballroom would be “paid for a hundred percent by me and some friends of mine.”
It also falls short of the $600 million projected price tag; according to the Post, taxpayer funds have been used to partially fund the project, along with donations from companies with business before the government.
Nvidia’s $25 million donation came three months after the company reached a deal with the Trump administration to sell advanced microchips to China.
A $25 million donation from Charles Ergen, co-founder and chairman of the telecommunications company Dish Network, came shortly after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dropped an investigation into the failure of EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, to upgrade its cellphone network.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had threatened last May to revoke government licenses from EchoStar, and a month later, Ergen met with Carr and Trump in a closed-door meeting where his political donations were discussed, Bloomberg reported.
Ergen then negotiated a deal to sell some of the licenses to AT&T. Carr dropped the investigation the following month, and months later, with the sale pending, the executive donated $12.5 million to Trump’s ballroom construction. A second $12.5 million contribution came soon after, according to the list published by the Post.
“Big Tech giants didn’t just chip in for Trump’s ballroom,” said Sacha Haworth of the Tech Oversight Project, a watchdog group. “The same companies funding Trump’s vanity project lined up for tax breaks, chip deals, federal contracts, and a blind eye to lawbreaking. Under Donald Trump, there’s a two-tiered justice system. Big Tech plays by a different set of rules because they bought their way in.”
The Post also detailed a $2.5 million contribution from Isabela Herrera, the daughter of international banker Julio Herrera Velutini, whom the US Department of Justice indicted on bribery charges in 2022.
Herrera Velutini’s charges were reduced to a misdemeanor months after his daughter donated millions of dollars to Trump’s MAGA Inc. political action committee, and a month later, she committed to a $2.5 million donation for the ballroom. Soon after, Herrera Velutini was pardoned.
The transactions detailed by the Post amount to “blatant corruption,” said progressive news outlet The Tennessee Holler.
Companies with massive stakes in decisions before President Trump and his administration gave many millions to the White House ballroom project, which the President has made clear is important to him. So are you confident he'll make those decisions based only on what's good for the American people?
Cryptocurrency investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss donated more than $5 million in bitcoin—a portion of the more than $18 million the industry contributed to the ballroom. Trump has pushed for loose regulations for the industry.
Other top donors include Google, Lockheed Martin, Amazon, and Palantir.
Government watchdog Public Citizensaid a new tax filing from the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit charity that manages the donations for the ballroom, shows that $169.7 million came from just 10 big donors.
“One year after the people’s house was abruptly bulldozed for a gold-plated ballroom that most Americans will never be allowed inside, we are uncovering who paid the most to fund it,” said Jon Golinger, democracy advocate for Public Citizen. “The question these ballroom megadonors all now need to answer is—why?”
Haworth said that “when Democrats take back gavels in January, they need to investigate Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, and others for potentially breaking the law to buy get-out-of-jail-free passes and sweetheart deals in exchange for their donation.”
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep. He says it’s the biggest bestyest ballroom.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Exclusive: Martha Dalton worked closely with Burnham’s team on byelection that secured his return to parliament
A recent lobbyist for the controversial $450bn US tech company Palantir played a senior role in helping Andy Burnham become prime minister, it has emerged.
Martha Dalton, whose company Lodestone worked for Palantir in 2024 and 2025, campaigned for Burnham in the Makerfield byelection that secured his return to parliament. She worked closely with his team on strategic communications and rebuttals, and was among supporters who clapped him into Downing Street in July.
Lodestone, which Dalton co-founded, worked for Palantir on projects including promoting its software at events in parliament where its engineers demonstrated AI-powered systems for use in British public services to MPs.
Dalton previously worked on the autumn 2025 deputy leadership campaign for the current education secretary, Lucy Powell, a few months after Lodestone stopped working for Palantir.
Her role emerged as Palantir fights to retain its £330m contract with NHS England to run the federated data platform, a national medical data system.
