Last month it emerged that a British soldier tried to radicalise comrades and recruit them for the far right

The British Army is using counterintelligence methods to identify far-right extremists in its ranks as concerns mount about infiltration by neo-Nazis.

Tactics that were used during the Cold War to protect the UK armed forces from being penetrated by Soviet spies are now being used to root out extremists.

The number of right-wing extremists referred to Channel, the government’s deradicalisation programme, recently hit a record high.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said 174 people were referred to Channel for “concerns relating to right-wing extremism”, a 40% increase on the previous year’s 124 referrals.

Speaking to MPs on the Commons defence select committee this month, General Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff, said the army had rehabilitated soldiers with extremist views “to give