Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Australian High Commissioner George Brandis have been warmly welcomed by the United Kingdom's House of Commons for a visit during Question Time on Thursday.
"They are both extremely welcome," officer of the House of Commons John Bercow said, announcing the Aussie visitors.
"We value our excellent relations with your country, we admire your nation, we respect your cricketers and a lot of us have a particularly high regard for your illustrious tennis players."
Theresa May during Prime Minister's Question Time on Thursday. Source: AAP
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May continued the jovial welcome, eliciting laughter when pointing out the differences between the Australian and UK parliaments.
"The whole house will join you in welcoming our Australian friends to the gallery," Ms May said.
"I'm reminded of the occasion when another former Australian prime minister, John Howard, visited this house. He watched Prime Minister's questions and he commented afterwards however lively PMQ's was here, it was a vicarage tea party compared to Australia."
Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull meet with Sydney-born MP Catherine West and co-chair of the UK's Australia and NZ Parliamentary friendship group Andrew Rosindell. Source: Twitter
In a tweet following the session, Mr Turnbull thanked Ms May and said: "the decorum of your Question Time was inspiring but unfamiliar".
The visit was just one stop in the former Prime Minister's European tour, during which he has been accompanied by his wife Lucy.
In an address to a British foreign policy think tank on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull warned Britain not to allow Huawei to build its 5G network, boasting that Australia was the first country to ban the telecommunications company.
"One of the final decisions of my Government was to ban telecommunications companies which could not meet our security requirements (such as Huawei and ZTE) from providing equipment to our new 5G phone networks, on national security grounds," he said in a speech to the Henry Jackson Society, with several prominent British MPs in the audience.
"And we so decided not because another country told us to let alone for protectionist reasons, but to defend our own sovereignty and to hedge against changing times."
Security has been a key discussion point during Mr Turnbull's trip. Last month, he attended the Munich Security Conference, where he spoke on issues concerning the South China Sea.
