Berlin’s latest intelligence report has put a stark figure on the rise of far-right extremism: 60,000 individuals with a proven capacity for violence, double the number from five years ago. For Britain, this is not merely a foreign headline. It is a summons.
Whitehall is now conducting a counter-extremism review, with leaked memos suggesting a shift in focus from Islamist to far-right threats. The German data has accelerated this. The Home Secretary has described the situation in Berlin as a “canary in the coalmine”.
The cost of the review is small beer: £2 million for a six-month study. But the cost of inaction would be vast. The 2019 Christchurch massacre, the 2021 Capitol raid: these were not lone wolves but networked extremists, many inspired by German-language propaganda.
Britain’s own far-right scene is fragmented but active. The number of arrests for far-right terrorism offences has tripled since 2016. Yet the Government’s counter-extremism strategy has been stuck for two years, mired in a row over what constitutes non-violent extremism.
Today, German police are raiding homes in Dresden, Munich, and Berlin. They are seizing weapons, computers, and bank accounts. The suspects are accused of plotting a coup, planning to storm the Reichstag, and executing an Enabling Act for a Fourth Reich.
In London, the review will examine prevention orders, online hate speech, and the role of social media algorithms. It will also look at the wider drivers: economic insecurity, housing crises, and the feeling of being left behind. These are the same conditions that fuelled Brexit and the populist surge.
The review will be led by a former counter-terrorism chief. He is said to be “obsessed” with the German model of banning symbols, seizing assets, and deporting foreign extremists. But human rights groups warn that such measures can backfire, driving extremism underground.
Meanwhile, the 60,000 figure haunts conversations. It is not a number of supporters but of people ready to use violence. In a country of 84 million, it is a small minority. But it is a lethal one.
The review will report next year. By then, the German elections will be over. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling at 22 per cent. Britain’s own far-right parties remain marginal, but the risk is not just electoral. It is the risk of a lone actor, inspired by a German blog, walking into a synagogue or a mosque.
This is not about Germany. It is about the shared fragility of democratic societies. It is about the cost of living crisis, the housing shortage, the sense among many that the system has failed them. And it is about the determination of a few to burn it all down.
The review must offer more than a crackdown. It must offer hope. If it does not, the 60,000 will grow. And Britain will be next.
