The final day before the Easter break. A quick annual check with the Doc before heading into the Commons for a busy morning. I had two important virtual meetings, one a surgery issue, the other about the migrant barge in Portland Port. At 1445, I was in the Grimond Room for another session of our Defence Committee. Today we took evidence from the Defence Secretary, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP. He was accompanied by David Williams CB, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Tom Wipperman, Strategic Finance Director, Ministry of Defence, and Lt Gen Sir Rob Magowan, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff. It was a most interesting session and can be seen on Parliament TV. Among the many topics covered, war readiness was one. The General said the Armed Forces would have to manage the “operational risk” that came with not having the resources he would like in future wars. We have some high-powered members on the Committee, some former MOD ministers themselves, and they know the ropes. Mr Shapps and his team were questioned pretty thoroughly, I thought. Our committee ended at 1715, by which time we'd dropped to a one line whip and most MPs were heading home. Talking of MPs, two ministers quit their government roles, forcing Rishi Sunak to reshuffle his team. One of them was the Armed Forces' minister James Heappey, who was doing a very good job. In other news, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would have to wait to find out whether he could appeal over his extradition to the United States, as the High Court ruled he could not immediately be extradited on espionage charges. Abroad, a port worker has said the cargo ship that rammed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was experiencing technical issues for two days before the crash. Six people were missing. And top Russian officials directly accused Ukraine and the West of being involved in the deadly Moscow concert hall attack, after it was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. This was more Putin nonsense.