A UK-US trade deal. Never mind the economics (at least for a moment). Feel the politics.

As with the NHS, policing, immigration and stop & search, so with trade. The Prime Minister will want a quick win – or at least progress towards one.

Robert Halfon: Does May’s selfish machine care at all about the Party’s future – or the thousand plus councillors who lost their seats?

We are heading towards a 1997-type defeat unless we make fundamental and radical changes to our machinery and to our policies.

Our snap survey. The panel backs Williamson over May – up to a point.

A plurality clearly think that her charge against him of leaking National Security Council discussions is unproven – if not unjustified altogether.

Iain Dale: The Williamson I got to know

I found an incredibly likeable person – but although he knuckled down and scored some successes, he was better placed as Chief Whip than Defence Secretary.

Risking our security. Risking our alliances. Opening our infrastructure up to China is a risk too far.

There are no certainties – at least, until it’s too late – so the UK should err on the side of caution.

Williamson. He’s gone away – but he won’t shut up.

What’s that you say?  That what really matters is the Huawei decision itself?  Quite so.  And on that, we have an uncomfortable feeling that he’s right. 

The former Defence Secretary’s side of the story. Sedwill “was out to get him”.

His friends say that the two clashed from the beginning of the Defence Secretary’s appointment – and suggest a vendetta.

Yes, you did. May is “concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation”. Her letter.

The implication of the letter is that the former Defence Secretary withheld evidence from Mark Sedwill’s leak inquiry.

No, I didn’t. Williamson “strenuously” denies that he was in any way involved in this leak”. His reply.

“I am confident that a thorough and full enquiry would have vindicated my position.”

Williamson fired over Huawei leak. May has “lost confidence” in him. Downing Street’s statement.

“The Prime Minister’s decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding the investigation.”

How far should Sedwill go over the Huawei leak?

He is perfectly entitled to crack down on leaks. But it’s worth bearing in mind that this one was scarcely unprecedented.

Adam Holloway: Huawei exercises state influence through private means. It is the East India Company of the modern age.

“If a 16 year old with Aspergers can break into US defence computers, what is to stop a Chinese company putting in trap doors that it can activate whenever it wants?

Ben Roback: Trump’s state visit. Problems abound. But interests – trade, defence, the Special Relationship – endure.

The visit should serve as a timely reminder that the last especially outlasts any individual President or Prime Minister.