The UK Government Faces a Reckoning Over Palantir
The UK Government Faces a Reckoning Over Palantir
英国政府面临关于 Palantir 的清算
When Andy Burnham sat in his office in Manchester as the regional mayor, building an unrivaled power base on Britain’s left that ultimately catapulted him into the prime minister’s office, he did so in the only region of England that refused Palantir access to its data.
当安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）担任大曼彻斯特地区市长时，他在英国左翼阵营中建立了一个无与伦比的权力基础，最终将他推上了首相宝座。而当时，他所管辖的地区是英格兰唯一拒绝让 Palantir 访问其数据的地区。
Now, as Burnham enters his first parliamentary session as British leader, Palantir could prove to be his first major test in office, as sources in Westminster tell WIRED the prime minister is under significant pressure from his new colleagues to break the company’s contentious contract with the National Health Service. The dispute could become the first major crisis of Burnham’s premiership, with those sources saying pressure is mounting on him to decide the future of Palantir’s growing role across the British state in the coming weeks.
如今，随着伯纳姆以英国领导人的身份进入首个议会会期，Palantir 可能成为他上任后的首次重大考验。威斯敏斯特的消息人士告诉《连线》（WIRED），首相正面临来自新同事的巨大压力，要求他终止该公司与英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）之间备受争议的合同。这场争端可能成为伯纳姆任期内的首场重大危机，消息人士称，在未来几周内，他面临的压力正与日俱增，必须决定 Palantir 在英国政府体系中日益增长的角色将何去何从。
Palantir currently holds contracts worth around £670m in the public sector, including major deals in health, defence, and policing. The largest—a £330m contract to manage healthcare data on the NHS Federated Data Platform—is the one Palantir opponents have opted to focus on. Reports circulated during Labour’s leadership election that Burnham would block Palantir, but they were swiftly cut down in follow-up reporting. Campaigners are now pushing for Burnham to use a break clause in Palantir’s contract with the NHS, which would see the deal end in 2027.
Palantir 目前在公共部门持有价值约 6.7 亿英镑的合同，涵盖医疗、国防和警务等领域的重大项目。其中规模最大的一项是价值 3.3 亿英镑的 NHS 联邦数据平台（FDP）医疗数据管理合同，这也是 Palantir 反对者们关注的焦点。在工党党魁选举期间，曾有报道称伯纳姆将封杀 Palantir，但随后的报道迅速平息了这些传言。目前，活动人士正敦促伯纳姆利用 Palantir 与 NHS 合同中的终止条款，以便在 2027 年结束该协议。
Burnham’s government and the Labour Party he leads are fractiously split on the issue. On one side, leading officials and parliamentary veterans argue cautiously in favor of the provider. On the other, Labour’s left-leaning grassroots and influential backbench MPs are pressuring the government to end the relationship, and in the process begin a huge schism with the company.
伯纳姆政府和他所领导的工党在这一问题上存在严重分歧。一方面，高级官员和议会资深人士谨慎地支持该供应商；另一方面，工党左翼基层和有影响力的后座议员正向政府施压，要求结束这种合作关系，并在此过程中与该公司划清界限。
The government has so far obfuscated in response to an official petition asking for people to be able to opt out of Palantir’s FDP, after it got 10,000 signatures, saying only that the government would consider it in future policy making. A similar, non-official petition calls for Palantir to be removed from the NHS entirely and has already reached 177,000 signatures.
针对一份要求允许民众退出 Palantir FDP 系统的官方请愿书（已获得 1 万个签名），政府目前的态度含糊其辞，仅表示将在未来的政策制定中予以考虑。另一份类似的非官方请愿书则呼吁将 Palantir 完全从 NHS 中剔除，目前已获得 17.7 万个签名。
Growing public opposition to the company has put the government under real pressure to reduce Palantir’s role in the British state. WIRED spoke to three Whitehall sources who believe that, if the deal is to be broken, a decision to do so would need to be made in the next few weeks.
公众对该公司的反对声浪日益高涨，这使政府面临削减 Palantir 在英国政府体系中角色的实际压力。《连线》采访了三位白厅（Whitehall）消息人士，他们认为，如果要终止该协议，必须在未来几周内做出决定。
“Given the need to hire an alternate provider or make a decision to move the contract in house, any decision to tear up the contract would need to be done by the Autumn,” one Whitehall source tells WIRED. “Otherwise the government would risk botching any changeover.”
“考虑到需要聘请替代供应商或决定将合同转为内部运营，任何撕毁合同的决定都必须在秋季之前做出，”一位白厅消息人士告诉《连线》，“否则政府将面临搞砸交接工作的风险。”
Many of the supporters who secured Burnham’s position in Downing Street are natural Palantir skeptics who come from the soft left. Intrinsically wary of privatisation, they want to see the firm’s role reduced or removed entirely from British politics.
许多支持伯纳姆入主唐宁街的支持者，本质上都是来自温和左翼的 Palantir 怀疑论者。他们天生对私有化持警惕态度，希望看到该公司在英国政治中的角色被削减或完全移除。
Beyond the inner circle, opposition to Palantir is organised and loud, including many members of the Socialist Campaign Group, a faction within the Labour Party, who are on the whole more experienced MPs. Burnham supporters like Rachael Maskell have vocally opposed Palantir.
在核心圈子之外，对 Palantir 的反对声音组织严密且响亮，其中包括工党内部派系“社会主义竞选小组”（Socialist Campaign Group）的许多成员，他们总体上是经验更丰富的议员。像蕾切尔·马斯克尔（Rachael Maskell）这样的伯纳姆支持者也公开反对 Palantir。
Maskell has highlighted her own work as an NHS clinician to justify her opposition to the company in a parliamentary debate in April. During a debate on Palantir’s FDP in February, she said: “This US spytech company is now deep into the data of our NHS and of course patients across the country. I know as a former clinician in the NHS, trust is key. If you do not have the confidence and trust of your patients, that results in people having worse health outcomes. So in the interest of our constituents’ health, I urge the government to end this contract.”
马斯克尔在 4 月份的议会辩论中，以自己作为 NHS 临床医生的工作经历为由，阐述了她反对该公司的立场。在 2 月份关于 Palantir FDP 的辩论中，她说道：“这家美国间谍技术公司现在已经深入到我们 NHS 以及全国患者的数据中。作为一名曾在 NHS 工作的临床医生，我知道信任是关键。如果你没有患者的信心和信任，就会导致人们的健康状况恶化。因此，为了我们选民的健康，我敦促政府终止这份合同。”
Another MP known to oppose the company is Clive Lewis, a vocal supporter of Burnham’s ascension to Downing Street. “By taking on contracts across the NHS, policing, defense, and other public services, Palantir followed a coordinated strategy to embed themselves deeper and deeper into the British state,” he tells WIRED. “This leaves us dangerously exposed to the whims of a shady spy tech company that operates under the laws of the US, not our own.”
另一位以反对该公司而闻名的议员是克莱夫·刘易斯（Clive Lewis），他是伯纳姆入主唐宁街的坚定支持者。他告诉《连线》：“通过承接 NHS、警务、国防和其他公共服务的合同，Palantir 采取了一种协调一致的策略，将自己越来越深地嵌入到英国政府体系中。这使我们危险地暴露在一家受美国法律而非我们自身法律管辖的阴暗间谍技术公司的摆布之下。”
But on the other side, there are plenty of politicians and advisers close to Burnham who quietly advocate for the firm’s work in the UK. One of those is Varun Chandra, the man chiefly in charge of maintaining the relationship between Westminster and Big Tech, who has been kept in position by Andy Burnham.
但在另一方面，也有许多与伯纳姆关系密切的政客和顾问在私下里支持该公司在英国的工作。其中之一就是瓦伦·钱德拉（Varun Chandra），他是负责维持威斯敏斯特与大型科技公司之间关系的主要负责人，并被安迪·伯纳姆留任。
Chandra made his name working for a corporate intelligence turned venture capital firm called Hakluyt. When Chandra rose to managing partner of the company at only 34, he became the first person to do so who had not worked for the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service. Shortly after taking the helm, he launched Hakluyt Capital, a venture capital investment fund fronted by the company with numerous investments in and around AI.
钱德拉因在一家从企业情报机构转型为风险投资公司的 Hakluyt 工作而声名鹊起。当钱德拉在 34 岁时升任该公司管理合伙人时，他成为了首位没有在英国秘密情报局（军情六处）工作过而担任此职的人。掌舵后不久，他便推出了 Hakluyt Capital，这是一只由该公司牵头的风险投资基金，在人工智能及其相关领域进行了大量投资。
Chandra plays a critical role for the British government in dealing with the US and MAGA. During Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington in 2025, Michael Ellam, a senior civil servant in the Cabinet Office, told the UK’s then-ambassador to the US that Chandra was better “stylistically” than a career diplomat like himself when dealing with the decision-makers in Trump’s circle.
钱德拉在英国政府处理与美国及“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）运动的关系中发挥着关键作用。在基尔·斯塔默爵士（Sir Keir Starmer）2025 年访问华盛顿期间，内阁办公室的高级公务员迈克尔·埃拉姆（Michael Ellam）曾告诉当时的英国驻美大使，在与特朗普圈子里的决策者打交道时，钱德拉在“风格上”比他这样的职业外交官更胜一筹。
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick singled Chandra out for praise upon his promotion, saying the adviser played an “essential” role in the US trade deal reached in 2025. Meanwhile, the New Statesman has reported that Chandra holds a particularly strong rapport with Stephen Miller, the White House’s controversial homeland security adviser.
商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克（Howard Lutnick）在钱德拉晋升时对他大加赞赏，称这位顾问在 2025 年达成的美英贸易协议中发挥了“至关重要”的作用。与此同时，《新政治家》（New Statesman）报道称，钱德拉与白宫备受争议的国土安全顾问斯蒂芬·米勒（Stephen Miller）关系特别密切。
Chandra also appears to be a point man in managing Palantir. Joe Lonsdale, a Palantir cofounder who has remained close to those in charge of the firm, dined with Chandra in December 2024. Shortly after, Lonsdale told The Shawn Ryan Show podcast that his friends working for Keir Starmer were fully bought into the DOGE-adjace…
钱德拉似乎也是管理 Palantir 的关键人物。2024 年 12 月，Palantir 的联合创始人、与公司高层保持密切联系的乔·朗斯代尔（Joe Lonsdale）与钱德拉共进晚餐。不久之后，朗斯代尔在《肖恩·瑞安秀》（The Shawn Ryan Show）播客中表示，他在基尔·斯塔默手下工作的朋友们完全接受了“政府效率部”（DOGE）的相关理念……