A former head of Britain's foreign spy service sits on the same Bilderberg committee as Peter Thiel — and opened a door into the UK government for Thiel's company Palantir.
Sir John Sawers, chief of MI6 (Britain's Secret Intelligence Service) from 2009 to 2014[1].
He is the documented link between British intelligence and Peter Thiel's world: the two share a seat on the Bilderberg steering committee, and Sawers was one of the advisers Palantir — the data company Thiel co-founded — hired in Britain.
Before MI6 he was a career diplomat: foreign-affairs adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, ambassador to Egypt, and Britain's ambassador to the United Nations. After MI6 he joined BP's board, became a governor of the Ditchley Foundation and set up a political-risk advisory firm. In 2019 he arranged a meeting between Palantir's chief executive and the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office; a year later the Cabinet Office gave Palantir a £27 million border-data contract without a competitive tender.
It shows how former spy chiefs move into boardrooms and open doors for tech firms. What the records do not show is Sawers 'handling' Thiel for intelligence — no advisory, payment or tasking record between the two men was found, so that question stays open.
[Report #197] Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), 'a position he held from November 2009 until November 2014.' (
en.wikipedia.org). The Guardian, June 2014: 'Sawers, the first outsider to be appointed to the role in decades, has been in post since 2009' (
theguardian.com).
CAREER BEFORE MI6 (
en.wikipedia.org): 'Principal Private Secretary to Douglas Hurd in 1993.' 'From January 1999 to summer 2001 he was seconded to the Cabinet Office as the Foreign Affairs Adviser to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair'; 'Ambassador to Egypt from 2001 to 2003,' then 'British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2007 to November 2009.'
AFTER MI6. 'Sir John was Chairman and Partner at Macro Advisory Partners (2015-19) before setting up Newbridge Advisory.' (
newbridgeadvisory.com); 'Sir John Sawers is Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory, a firm he founded in 2019 to advise corporate leaders on geopolitics and political risk.' 'On 14 May 2015 he was appointed independent non-executive director of BP Global .' 'Sawers is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation'. 'He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Conferences and participated in conferences since 2014' (
en.wikipedia.org) — the same steering committee Thiel sits on (see bilderberg, thiel).
PALANTIR. 'Sir John Sawers set up a meeting between Palantir’s CEO and the Cabinet Office permanent secretary, John Manzoni, in 2019, when the company was pitching for new business.' (
opendemocracy.net). London Review of Books: 'the former head of MI6, John Sawers – one of dozens of former politicians and senior civil servants hired as advisers by Palantir – facilitated a meeting between Karp and John Manzoni, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office' (
lrb.co.uk). 'In subsequent correspondence with the department, Sawers hailed the benefits of Palantir’s ‘unique software’. A year later the Cabinet Office gave Palantir a £27 million contract.' (
lrb.co.uk) FOI: 'Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Palantir boss Alex Karp met with Manzoni on 16 July 2019.' (
truepublica.org.uk) Privacy International: 'a year later the US-based company was awarded a £27 million contract to process border and customs data without competitive' (
privacyinternational.org) tender. openDemocracy: 'Palantir went on to win a data deal – without competitive tender – from the Cabinet Office' (
opendemocracy.net).
ANCESTRY. Wikipedia: 'descendant of the historic Stratford family through his maternal grandmother' (
en.wikipedia.org). A Sawers family tree published by David James Sawers (archived 2009) lists him — 'Sir Robert John Sawers , commonly known as John, is a diplomat.' — and on the Sawers side 'John Sawers was a surgeon.' and 'Charles Lorimer Sawers was Writer to the Signet and provost of Dunbar.' (
web.archive.org); on the Stratford side 'William Peachey Stratford was a master butcher in Farnham.' (
web.archive.org). The source report's 'Scottish fishmongers and Jamaican planters' is contradicted by this tree: its Glasgow page is about a fishmonger John Sawers — 'John Sawers was born in 1862 and died in 1945.' (
glasgowmuseumsartdonors.co.uk) — and never links him to Sir John.
HELD (Concept #56 / #147). Documented, middle layer: a shared Bilderberg steering-committee seat with Thiel; a Palantir-hired adviser who set up the 2019 Karp–Manzoni meeting. Not found in the sources checked (Oct 2026): any intelligence-handling tie between Sawers and Thiel. Would settle: a disclosed advisory, payment or tasking record between Sawers and Thiel.