The Foreign Office is in emergency talks tonight. Six mothers and children were shot dead in a migrant processing centre outside Munich. Source says three gunmen opened fire before being neutralised by German police.
Whitehall is spooked. This is the kind of incident that shifts the tectonic plates of European politics. Expect a joint statement from the PM and Chancellor within hours.
But the real story is the backroom scramble. A senior diplomat tells me the UK is pushing for an urgent EU-wide security review. They want border checks tightened.
They want intelligence sharing ramped up. The usual dance after a tragedy. But the mood in the Lobby is darker.
Migrant centres are already a lightning rod. This will embolden the hard right. Germany is on edge.
The politics are poisonous. I’m hearing the Home Secretary is demanding a full assessment of UK reception centres. Paranoia is spreading.
The families were from Syria. They had been processed. They were waiting for transfer.
The killer is still unknown but sources hint at a far-right cell. The official line is solidarity. The off-record whispers are about fear.
Fear of copycats. Fear of a political explosion. The EU security review is the headline.
But the real debate is about how porous our defences are. And how easily grief turns into grievance. I’ll have more as the details emerge.
For now, watch the clock. The political fallout is only beginning.
