Berlin has put a number on the enemy within. 60,000 far-right extremists. That is the official count from German intelligence. A figure that lands like a punch in Whitehall. Our security services are watching. Closely.
The German assessment, splashed across Der Spiegel, is a wake-up call. It details a network of radicals, some with military training, others with access to weapons. The far-right is not a fringe. It is a movement. And it is not just a German problem.
British sources tell me that cross-Channel intelligence sharing has deepened in recent weeks. MI5 and the Metropolitan Police are in constant contact with their German counterparts. The fear, as one source put it, is “contagion.” The ideology that drove a man to kill a German politician, that fueled the storming of the Reichstag, that lurks in the forests of Thuringia, has British branches.
The Home Office is taking note. There have been quiet briefings to the National Security Council. The numbers are stark. In the UK, the official count of far-right extremists is classified, but open-source monitoring groups put the figure in the low thousands. The German number suggests we may be underestimating the scale.
What is the British response? Operation Deliberate, the counter-extremism program, is being reviewed. There is talk of a new deradicalisation unit, modelled on the German “Aussteigerprogramm.” But Whitehall is cautious. Past efforts have struggled. The far-right is adept at using encrypted apps, at slipping under the radar.
The politics of this are toxic. The government is wary of being seen as soft on extremism while also clamping down on free speech. Labour is pushing for a tougher approach, accusing the Tories of complacency. The Home Secretary is caught in the crossfire.
One thing is clear: the German dossier has changed the calculus. The threat matrix has been redrawn. The Channel is a barrier but not a wall. Ideology travels faster than intelligence. The 60,000 figure is a starting point. It demands a British answer.
