Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson leaves UK Music to join Palantir

Former Labour Party deputy leader Lord Tom Watson has become a senior vice president at controversial American AI firm Palantir.

Announcing his appointment on X on Friday (September 18), Watson said Palantir was “the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence”.

Founded 20 years ago by billionaire Peter Thiel, the company has financial backing from the CIA, with clients including the US and Israeli militaries, ICE, the FBI, and the NHS.

Watson said the company had “challenges” and although some criticism was “propaganda” there were “legitimate questions about large technology companies and sovereign control”.

Em resposta à notícia, o MP Verde Sian Berry disse que seu papel era “mais um exemplo da porta giratória corrosiva entre política e lobby de grandes empresas que não tem lugar na vida pública”.

She continued to say that the company had “no business at all in our NHS and public services”, and that Watson had been employed to “lobby his friends in the Labour government.”.

Esse sentimento foi ecoado por muitos nas redes sociais, com um usuário do X dizendo que a jogada foi “incrível”.

After six wonderful years at UK Music, I'm joining Palantir UK as Senior Vice President.

Palantir is the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence: helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS.

His role at UK Music was similarly divisive, and back in 2020, the organisation was was forced to defend his appointment after it was met with industry-wide criticism.

A report by The Times at the time said Watson’s new role had “alarmed” the British Phonographic Industry, whose members account for 85 per cent of music sales and who are among the ten music groups with directors who sit on the board of UK Music.

Houve, segundo relatos, preocupação em alguns grupos quanto ao conhecimento de Watson sobre a indústria musical do Reino Unido, bem como o custo relatado de seu salário anual.

O relatório também citou uma série de controvérsias que ocorreram durante a carreira parlamentar de Watson, particularmente no que diz respeito ao seu apoio a alegações falsas de abuso sexual infantil, como aquelas refutadas pelas conclusões da Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse no início de 2020.

Louis Mosley, the head of UK and Europe at Palantir Technologies, welcomed the appointment of Watson, saying he brought a “deep understanding of how AI is changing the ways the state can help people in Britain, where more than one in six Palantirians are based”.

Mosley went on to say Watson had also given up his parliamentary pass and that his Palantir contact prevented him from returning to the Lords as an active peer while working for the company.

In a statement, Watson said Palantir was “helping Britain and its allies defend themselves, helping police protect our citizens and helping NHS staff get patients treated and home sooner”.

When Watson resigned from his position as the Labour Party’s general election co-ordinator, he shared a a letter to the party’s leader Ed Miliband, in which he famously advised the Labour Party leader to check out Castleton sibling duo Drenge, who later said they were not “totally overjoyed” about the random namecheck.

A voz que define o mundo em música e cultura pop: desvendando o que há de novo e o que está por vir desde 1952.

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