There's been a big US-coordinated international effort to shoot down Iranian drones / cruise missiles over Jordan tonight. Israel will have to consider that continued support when weighing any direct retaliation against Iran.

A perilous moment between Israel and Iran - listen to the dispatch from James Landale in Jerusalem on From Our Own Correspondent at 11.30 on BBC Radio 4 or download the podcast. Also stories from Chibok in Nigeria, US, Lithuania and France
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

MSC confirm that the MSC Aries container ship has been seized by Iran in Strait of Hormuz. MSC statement below:

“There is a weary belief in Labour high command that Joe Biden won’t make it, and that Trump is realistic enough to deal, however grumpily, with a Labour government sitting atop a big majority.”

🖊️ Andrew Marr
newstatesman.com/politics/labou…

I flew on board an RAF flight delivering aid to Gaza. This is what I saw and heard: youtube.com/watch?v=pPjGTh…

bbc.com/news/world-mid…

Small footnote to today’s international aid airdrop to Gaza. At the airbase in Jordan, the UK was the only nation out of 9 not using C130 Hercules. Nota bene ⁦Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧⁩

Surprise! This report isn’t about abolishing the Foreign Office (tho’ it suggests changing the name) or denigrating the UK’s history. It’s a thoughtful piece about Britain’s interests in a changing world and how to organise government to deliver them. 1/8 ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/sit…

If you want to read the proposals in full, you can find them here ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/new…

Excl: senior former UK officials call for FCDO to be abolished & replaced by new Department for International Affairs with “fewer colonial era pictures on the wall'.
bbc.com/news/uk-687562…

Exc: lawyers for a Palestinian rights group seeking to block British arms sales to Israel have formally written to the UK government, urging it to disclose its internal assessment of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law. Here's my BBC Radio 4 script:

On #BBCNewscast , we look at NATO as the Western military alliance turns 75. Is it still relevant? Is the US still committed to it? Can it stand up to Putin’s Russia? All that and more, here: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0… with Radek Sikorski Sophia Gaston James Landale & Sarah Rainsford

Sad news of the death of Charles Reiss, former political editor of the London Evening Standard. A titan of Westminster. I worked in the room above him for seven years & learned much of my trade from him. RIP.