British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was spotted using the Huawei P20 Pro to take selfies this week (story here), sparking widespread attention as Huawei is facing increasing scrutiny in the western world.
In a story published Friday, Forbes contributor Zak Doffman commented on this and said it would not be a huge surprise if the use of a borrowed Huawei phone was deliberate, intended to drive an inevitable social media storm given the timing.
But it could as easily have been inadvertent. It would be impossible for Johnson to own and publicly use a personal Huawei device given the politics, but nothing can be taken for granted, Zak also noted.
Huawei hasn’t offered any comment on the story, although they did find it amusing. One staffer inside the company joked about the likely speculation that would follow, adding that it was a shame it wasn’t a new Mate 30, showcasing the company’s 5G devices and latest innovations, the story wrote.
There is a serious point to all this, of course. The UK has been firmly in Washington’s sights on Huawei given its heavy use of its network equipment. Until the US blacklisted Huawei over allegations of national security risks, Huawei was a shoe-in for heavy involvement in the UK’s next generation network deployments.
Johnson’s use of a Huawei phone has shifted the narrative from the serious to the trivial. Despite media mischief, there is no genuine security alert in this story. Johnson is not sending restricted UK data over a Huawei handset, Zak said.
Johnson was spotted using the Huawei P20 Pro to take selfies with TV hosts after attending the British television show "This Morning" on Thursday.
This happened the day after he hinted that the United Kingdom would abide by the US stance to bar Huawei from participating in British Telecom infrastructure construction.
Johnson talked about the upcoming general election and Brexit on the show. Later, the camera captured him taking a photo with the hosts using the Huawei P20 Pro, and the photos were also posted on his Instagram.
"Just when we stopped, Boris Johnson took out his phone and took a selfie," host Holly Willoughby said in a show after the interview.
Officials clarified that the phone was not Johnson’s, but had been borrowed from a staff member.
