Loading Other senior intelligence officials have, during trips to Britain, had high-level meetings with counterparts where Australia's position has been clearly put. Of the Five Eyes nations - Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand - Australia was the first to put an effective ban on Huawei 5G involvement in August, which will power data-hungry future technologies such as artificial intelligence and driverless cars. Senior figures including Office of National Intelligence deputy head Andrew Shearer and recently retired Australian Cyber Security Centre head Alastair MacGibbon have discussed the issue repeatedly with British counterparts in the past year, sources said. The risks in telecommunications have been described as a "top tier" subject of security discussions.

Mr Brandis, who was previously the attorney-general, presented Australia's position to the influential British parliamentary committee alongside an official from electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate. Not long after the appearance, the chairman of the committee, Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, wrote an opinion article in The Telegraph warning that Australia likely shared the concerns of the US about the security of shared intelligence if Britain were to use Huawei equipment. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video An Australian government spokesman said the rules around the 5G build was "a sovereign decision for the UK, as it was for Australia". Officials have also been trying to understand the British position, so that Australia can weigh up any effects that a British 5G network with Chinese equipment would have on Australia.

Telecommunications industry sources believe the moves from the Australian agencies amount to trying to strong-arm the British government, with British mobile providers particularly frustrated by the actions of the Australian representatives as a ban could amount to "billions of dollars" in extra costs for network roll outs. They said there had been multiple visits to Britain by Mr Shearer in particular, a former national security adviser to John Howard and Tony Abbott, who is regarded as hawkish on China. We've made representations to the UK on why our stance was taken ... it's been respectful. Source "The UK government did not want them [Britain] to be a 5G laggard," one telco source said, explaining British mobile providers had warned the government that without Huawei there could be delays and rising costs. However, sources with close knowledge of the discussions said Australia had been "careful not to affront anyone".

"We've made representations to the UK on why our stance was taken ... it's been respectful. It's a bit like a fight at a family lunch where people might go home sore but they quickly realise blood is thicker than water," one source said. Loading Another said: "Australia feels that it's in its interests that its close partners are aligned on this issue." A third source dismissed any suggestion Australia was lobbying on the issue and said this was a "sovereign" decision for Britain. The diplomatically sensitive campaign comes at a time when Britain is going through political upheaval with Prime Minister Theresa May resigning over the Brexit stalemate.