Israeli PM comes to London

Benjamin Netanyahu kicks off his four day European tour with a couple of meetings here in London. The first is with British PM Gordon Brown.  He'll say again that the building of settlements has to stop to let talks with the Palestinians get in - but he's not going to say anything the Israeli PM  hasn't heard before.  It's not going to cause a row - Britain still regards itselself as 'a true friend' of Israeli.

Tomorrow's meeting is much more important.  That's when Mr Netanyahu will sit down with the US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.  While Europe is a player in the peace process, the much more important  voice comes from Washington.  And slowly both sides are edging to a place where talks with the Palestinian side can resume.

So what will come out of today's meeting?  The Israelis will be looking for strong words on Iran and the 'nuclear threat' they believe it poses.  Given Britain's problems with the Iranians in recent weeks, they can expect a sympathetic ear.  The Israelis won't give up on settlement building at the moment and both sides will agree there has to be a settlement in the Middle East.

It's going to be more of the same I'm afraid.