Starmer’s Science Minister Embroiled in Conflict of Interest Scandal With AI Firm

The curious donor of Labour MP Peter Kyle.

The government has recently awarded a £2.3 million AI surveillance contract to Faculty AI, a company that paid Labour Science Minister Peter Kyle last year, constituting a glaring conflict of interest at the heart of Keir Starmer’s cabinet.

The new system, called the Counter Disinformation Data Platform, will be used by the National Security Online Information Team, a rebranded version of the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU).

The official claim is that the AI system will track foreign interference and deepfakes, but heavily redacted FOI documents obtained by Big Brother Watch show the government has given itself the power to expand its use.

Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, directly oversees the department that approved the contract. And yet, months prior in May 2024, Faculty AI paid Kyle £36,000 for “technical expertise and policy research.”

Kyle has no apparent background in technology or artificial intelligence. His degree is in Geography and Environmental Studies, while his roles in politics have been reserved to serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and as Shadow Minister for Schools.

It is possible that Faculty AI paid Kyle not for his “expertise”, but for an expert to educate and advise him on AI—effectively funding his learning in a field where he had little prior experience.

However, the conflict of interest remains. Kyle’s department approved a multi-million-pound government contract for the same company that had paid him thousands in some form just months earlier.

Kyle also currently leads Starmer’s Regulatory Innovation Office, a new department tasked with fast-tracking approvals for new technologies, including the kind of systems Faculty AI develops.

A minister took tens of thousands from a private company, then signed off on a multi-million-pound contract for the same company. And that same minister also runs the office responsible for removing regulatory barriers for AI projects.

Even by Westminster standards, it stinks.

The government insists the AI system will only target national security threats. But we’ve heard this before.

During Covid, the Counter Disinformation Unit was caught flagging MPs and social media users for expressing opinions that diverged from official government narratives—some of their work even “strayed into censorship”.

Now, with its rebranded, more secretive replacement, plus a new AI surveillance system, there’s no reason to believe this won’t be used to monitor broader speech under the guise of security.

Once again, this appears less about protection and more about power, profit, and control—especially coming just days after the Home Secretary successfully pushed for the dismantling of protections on citizens’ iCloud backup data.

In the macro, a clear precedent is being set: more state access to private information, with fewer safeguards for the public.

Following up on this, I came across a brilliant report this morning, published 4 days ago, by Daily Mail journalist Guy Adams detailing more of Kyle’s questionable ties to the industry—here.

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