Mayor of London will have text messages and emails searched as part of procurement battle with data firm Palantir

Palantir is challenging in court the decision by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to block its £50m artificial intelligence contract with the Metropolitan Police, as Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Policing Board that the force must now scale back its technology-driven ambitions for 2026/27.

A full hearing of the case is due to be held in January next year.

According to ITV, at a preliminary hearing on Thursday, the High Court was told Sadiq 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 will be searched for anything relevant to the issues in the legal battle, and disclosed to Palantir.

Khan is one of 17 individuals inside the Mayor’s office who will hand over personal communications to the court. This also includes Sarah Brown, Sir Sadiq’s former director of communications, who now works at No 10 under Andy Burnham.

According to the Mayor's Office, the Greater London Authority (GLA) voluntarily agreed to include communications that might be relevant to the claim from a number of people, "in line with standard legal process".

Palantir has reportedly claimed that the Mayor unlawfully blocked the contract because he objected to the company’s “ethics”. This was based on its work for the Israeli military and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) said it cancelled the deal because of a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules, claiming that the Met had only considered Palantir for the contract.

Palantir said it is not commenting “beyond what was said in court”.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "It would not be appropriate for us to comment on ongoing legal proceedings."

Lottie Winson