Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington says the prime minister is not referring the leak inquiry to police for a criminal investigation.

Speaking in the Commons, he says: “The prime minister has said that she now considers that this matter has been closed and the Cabinet Secretary does not consider it necessary to refer it to the police."

However he adds: "We would of course cooperate fully should the police themselves consider that an investigation were necessary.”

Disclosure of official information relating to security and intelligence by a “Crown servant” – including government ministers – can be illegal.

For it to be an offence the disclosure has to be damaging and done without lawful authority (i.e. not as part of the person’s official duties).

Being found guilty of this carries a sentence ranging from a fine to two years in prison.

If the police were to launch an investigation, the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox would decide whether there was to be a prosecution.

Image source, Getty Images

Theresa May declined to answer questions on the sacking of Gavin Williamson as she posed for photographs in Westminster.

The PM appeared outside Number 10 as she welcomed the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrin Jakobsdottir.

Image source, Getty Images/AFP

Image source, Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Gavin Williamson's sacking from government following a national security leak inquiry has come as a shock in Westminster.

The now former defence secretary is a key power-broker in Conservative circles and someone who had not hidden his ambition of one day becoming prime minister.

When he was chief whip, responsible for keeping MPs in line and enforcing party discipline, he kept a tarantula called Cronus on his desk.

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Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says the police, not politicians, should decide whether to launch a criminal investigation into the Huawei leak.

In response to a question from the Press Association during a World Press Freedom Day forum at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Mr Hunt says: "There's a very, very important principle of our system that those decisions are not made by politicians, they are made independently by police. "

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg says that while Downing Street wants to draw a line under the leak, this is unlikely to happen, with opposition parties calling for a police inquiry.

She says Gavin Williamson could also prove "a rather devastating enemy of Theresa May from the backbenches".

As a former chief whip "he knows where rather a lot of the government's secrets are buried," she adds.

“It will be for him, of course, to decide what kind of future he wants to try to pursue," she says.

"Will he be a very sharp piece of grit in Theresa May’s oyster or will he, in the hope of resurrecting himself later on, try to become a loyal ally of hers?”

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell has denied claims Gavin Williamson is the victim of a “vendetta” against him.

Mr Williamson told Sky News that the leak inquiry, overseen by the current cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, had taken place in a “kangaroo court”.

There are reports the two men clashed, including about whether to allow the Chinese firm Huawei to help build the new 5G network.

But Lord O’Donnell says the decision to sack Mr Williamson was the prime minister’s.

He tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “She decides on what action to take and it’s her that decided that, on the basis of this evidence, she wanted to say farewell.”

He adds that Sir Mark is a man “of the highest integrity” and his role is only to “advise the prime minister”.

And Lord O'Donnell stresses the leak was only a breach of the ministerial code, "not a breach of the Official Secrets Act that is putting people's lives at risk".

Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

Sources maintain damage has been done by the leak.

It was not of the most sensitive possible information. That would be details of intelligence sources and methods.

A leak in Washington a few years ago pointed to the fact that there was an agent inside a group planning attacks on the West from Yemen.

That put the agent's life at risk and compromised a valuable stream of intelligence.

The Huawei leak related to a policy decision. But the damage lies in relations with allies.

The US has been campaigning hard for Huawei to be excluded from new 5G networks.

The leak may not have fully captured the restrictions to be placed on the company even though its role was approved. And because the decision was leaked within hours of the meeting ending, there was no chance to explain the decision to Washington.

The day the leak appeared, a senior official from America's National Security Agency spy agency spoke to me to reiterate Washington's concerns and days later a State Department official told me that the US would have to re-evaluate information sharing with allies that used Huawei.

That official also came to London to continue the push. And so the frustration from UK officials is that their ability to explain the policy to the public and to allies was compromised by the speed and substance of what was revealed.

The former head of the British army says the leak is "a very serious matter" and the person responsible should face the consequences.

Lord Dannatt tells BBC Breakfast: "It may be one thing to [leak] from around the cabinet table but for someone to do it from the National Security Counsel, that's a quite a different issue."

"If Mr Williamson presses for a police inquiry and it comes out the wrong way, he's in a degree of trouble," he says.

He adds that it is "not a good day for defence" as Mr Williamson had made some good contributions in his role, including arguing for more resources.

However, Lord Dannatt says he thinks his replacement, Penny Mordaunt - who is a former armed forces minister and naval reservist - will "do a good job".

Need to catch up on what happened last night?

The BBC's political podcast, Brexitcast, has the lowdown. You can listen to it here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson is calling for a police inquiry to "establish the facts" around the leak.

“[Gavin Williamson] is denying it and he has the right to clear his name. The way to do that is a criminal inquiry if confidential information has leaked," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

However, he adds the leak has "cast a spotlight" on the issue of possible Chinese involvement in the UK's 5G network and raised questions over the prime minister's judgement over the matter.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Conservative MP Bob Seely says if Gavin William was responsible for leaking sensitive information from a National Security Council meeting he could be prosecuted for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

However, the MP, who sits on the foreign affairs select committee, says while he doesn't condone the leak, it has raised important issues about the possible risks of allowing Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to help build the UK's 5G network.

"There is a public good that has come out of that and that is we are now having a serious debate about a very significant issue to do with our long-term security in our country," he tells Radio 4's Today programme.

Pictures of a pensive Gavin Williamson leaving Westminster feature on many of the front pages.

In what the Daily Mail describes as an "extraordinary" interview, external, he swears "on his children's lives" that he did not leak information from a National Security Council meeting to the media.

"The prime minister has just sacked someone who is not guilty," he says, claiming he "dug her out of a few holes" when he worked as her chief whip.

Several papers - including the i - report comments Mr Williamson made , externalto Sky News, suggesting he had been the victim of a "kangaroo court" led by the head of the Civil Service, Sir Mark Sedwill.

The Daily Telegraph adds that Downing Street has not offered proof , externalMr Williamson was behind the leak, and would likely "come under pressure to publish the evidence".

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