Starmer’s twin Streeting sells your data to US firm

AS LABOUR MPs look for an alternative Leader, there are concerns that they may pick Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Sadly for Labour, Streeting would be no improvement on Starmer. Not only has Streeting cheerfully defended everything that Starmer has done, but he has also just had his own “Mandelson Moment” – taken a decision that seems rational in the dark corridors of power but looks ridiculous and indefensible in the cold light of day.

The controversy concerns two things: Streeting’s desire for the NHS to save revenue costs by going digital; and a contract the last Tory Government struck with the highly shady US spy tech company Palantir.

The Palantir website boats of its involvement with the NHS.

The last Tory Government began the work on setting up the NHS Federated Data System (FDS), which aims to bring patient data held locally on different kinds of software into a giant database any part of the NHS can access. The Tories paid Palantir £330 million for its work on the project. Part of this work is the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT): this is a tool which allows NHS staff to access your data from that database.

The Financial Times has now published an internal NHS England briefing note, which states that non-NHS staff will be able to use NDIT to access patient records on the database too. At the moment, Palantir staff who want to access data – to test how the system is working, for example – have to ask permission. The briefing note suggests they will be given permanent access through creating an “admin” role. Similar rights would also be granted to other companies working on the FDS,

The concern is that opening up access to the database in this way makes the data very insecure. We have already seen data relating to 500,000 patient volunteers, held by the UK biobank, leaked just weeks ago. The leak was discovered because someone spotted that the data was being advertised for sale on Alibaba. This kind of data is valuable to pharmaceutical companies, which can send material advertising drugs to people who have the condition the drugs treat.

So much, so worrying – but it gets worse. The UK taxpayer is pouring money into the hands of Palantir, altough many taxpayers would not approve of the other work that Palantir does.

Palantir is also involved in UK defence, transport, construction and police.

First, Palantir is the company which supplies the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Team (ICE) with surveillance technology which enables ICE to trace “illegal” migrants in the USA. Not only are the actions of ICE cruel and inhumane – they are sometimes also wrong. If ICE is making life-changing errors, it does not bode well for it doing the job of building an accurate database of NHS patient records.

Second, Palantir supplies the electronic tools used by the Israeli military to boost its “activities” in Gaza. Those targeted operations – killing “terrorists” who turn out to be wedding parties, journalists or aid workers – are supported by AI delivered by Palantir’s software. “We stand with Israel,” it proclaimed on social media, quoted by the Business and Human Rights Centre. “The board of directors of Palantir will be gathered in Tel Aviv next week for its first meeting of the new year Our work in the region has never been more vital. And it will continue.”

UK Health campaigners are trying to persuade the Labour Government to withdraw from the Palantir contract. Dr John Puntis, Co-Chair of Keep Our NHS Public, supported the call and was shocked to hear that access to data was to be extended.

Unison Assistant General Secretary Jon Richards told the Morning Star that Palantir was “morally dubious” and revealed that Unison had already written to Streeting with their concerns.

After the local election results, Labour MPs seem to be falling over themselves to admit that various actions which they had supported at the time are in fact “mistakes”. If Streeting were to launch a bid to take over the party leadership, there is no doubt that campaigners would be quick to point out the dangers in his decision to give Palantir direct access to patient records. It could be his very own “Mandelson moment” – with Labour MPs who haven’t condemned the decision now ready to condemn it if this Starmer clone doesn’t miraculously change the fortunes of the Labour Party.

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