Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has been appointed UK Senior Vice President at Palantir Technologies. The move, announced on September 18, 2026, shifts the peer from an external advisory post into a full-time, London-based executive role overseeing the data analytics firm’s major public sector engagements.
Watson steps into the corporate role after concluding his tenure as chair of trade body UK Music in spring 2026. First appointed in April 2020 during the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, Watson reached the maximum tenure allowed under the organization’s governance rules after serving two consecutive three-year terms. Industry executives, including UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl, BPI Chief Jo Twist, and Featured Artists Coalition CEO David Martin, credited Watson with using his Westminster background to secure emergency pandemic relief, tackle post-Brexit European touring restrictions, and help build the sector to a £7.6 billion economic contribution. Upon his exit, Watson highlighted securing a fair copyright settlement for creators against unregulated tech platform exploitation, and artificial intelligence as the industry’s most critical unfinished business.
At Palantir, Watson’s remit directly encompasses key UK public sector clients, including the National Health Service (NHS), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and national police forces. The company stated that Watson will lead initiatives to ensure public contracts deliver social and economic value while supporting domestic employment, workforce skills, and digital training aligned with government industrial priorities. Palantir CEO Alex Karp described the hiring as “the latest chapter of Tom’s forty-year fight for better public services,” while UK and Europe Chief Executive Louis Mosley said the role focused on “building things, not opening doors.”
Watson previously served as a paid strategic adviser to Palantir beginning in 2024, appearing alongside Mosley at political events including Labour Party conferences. Palantir generated £427 million in UK turnover last year, with London housing more than one in six of its global employees as its largest base outside the United States. The company holds a £240 million software contract with the MoD and a £330 million, seven-year agreement with NHS England for the Federated Data Platform (FDP). The NHS deal includes a break clause scheduled for February 2027, leaving it subject to active government review amid privacy concerns. Palantir is also engaged in active litigation against Mayor of London Sadiq Khan after City Hall blocked a proposed £50 million contract for the Metropolitan Police.
To assume the executive position, Watson surrendered his parliamentary pass and took a formal leave of absence from the House of Lords, where the Code of Conduct prohibits peers from providing parliamentary advice or lobbying for commercial entities. However, his decision to retain both his peerage and the Labour whip while managing public sector accounts has drawn sharp criticism. Green Party MP Siân Berry condemned the appointment as an example of the revolving door between politics and corporate lobbying, arguing that retaining the whip was inappropriate. Tom Brake, Chief Executive of Unlock Democracy, called for an enforceable five-year statutory ban on former ministers and senior officials taking roles that commercialize public networks.
Civil society and healthcare organizations have also voiced pushback. Groups including Medact have protested Palantir’s role in UK public services, citing the company’s contracts with the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Privacy advocates have separately warned that embedding Palantir’s systems across NHS and police databases poses long-term risks to patient privacy and civil liberties.
Watson’s transition reflects a wider trend of prominent political figures stepping into the technology sector, joining peers such as Nick Clegg at Meta, Rishi Sunak advising Anthropic and Microsoft, and George Osborne advising OpenAI.