A gentle cough broke the uncomfortable silence. ‘Mr Tennant,’ said the Deputy PM Lesley Hogarth in her flat north Lincolnshire accent, with a deliberate emphasis on his honorific. Hogarth was a short woman with blow-dried blonde hair sat over a stony face. She had a penchant for brightly coloured jackets, but today had opted for a more restrained burgundy. ‘With all due respect, your views on the extremists from the right are well known. Where’s the evidence that this was anything more than the violence of a sick man living out some fantasy? Surely our priority remains ISIS and the proven threat from organised Muslim extremism?’

Tennant winced. Was using an inflammatory phrase like ‘Muslim extremism’ rather than Islamist terrorist a deliberate slip of the tongue? He wouldn’t put it past her. Surely, he thought, this was an act. She couldn’t be that crass and that dim all at once.

‘I think you meant to say Islamist extremism, Deputy Prime Minister,’ he said, forcing a smile. ‘And apologies if I didn’t explain myself clearly. I’m not saying that Islamists pose no threat. There are currently,’ he looked at his notes, ‘twenty-three groups under surveillance thought to be planning attacks in the UK right now, which I think is a record. So please, let me reassure the Deputy Prime Minister that our eye is very much on the ball. However, there’s also very good evidence of increased terrorist intent on the extreme right wing. Chilton Park may only be the start. We could very well be seeing more of the sort of attacks we’ve seen on the continent here in the UK over the next twelve months.’

The Home Secretary butted in.

‘Thank you, Steven. I share some of Lesley’s concerns that we’re in danger of overstating the threat of the extreme right at the expense of the severe threat from the jihadists. I don’t see much organisation at Chilton Park – a loner with a knife and a grudge does not make a paramilitary threat.’

Around the table, junior ministers were sitting up in their seats, paying slightly more attention, sensing something was up. Was Thomas attempting to redefine the threat to suit his political ambitions?

Thomas continued: ‘I also share Steven’s concerns about the risk of an escalation, which is why I think we need to send a strong signal, both to the Muslim community but also to the terrorists, and the potential terrorists, that we will have law and order on our streets. We know that the police are stretched, we know that they don’t have the spare manpower because we hear it often enough from Steven and his colleagues, and so I believe it is time we supported the bobbies on the street with an armed military presence.’

Hogarth muttered ‘Hear, hear’ as if she was in a university debating society. The PM’s expression remained inert, but he looked to Tennant, who took the cue.

‘Prime Minister, at this stage, we are putting more armed officers on patrol, but we are not asking for you to approve military support at this time,’ said Tennant. ‘I will, of course, keep this under review.’