Boris Johnson sparks confusion after being the only person not wearing a mask in the Oval Office

Boris Johnson has cut a maverick figure on his trip to New York by not consistently wearing a mask.

In photos shared by the foreign office, the Prime Minister is seen gripping his mask with one hand and some papers with the other despite Biden, foreign secretary Liz Truss, Kamala Harris and other officials in the room comfortably clad in face coverings as they put the world to rights in the Oval Office.

It would appear that Johnson was the one talking during these pics but it is still a jarring image to behold.

Johnson was trying to secure a trade deal with the US during the trip. But on Tuesday, Biden said “we’ll have to work that through” creating the sense that this might not be the walk in the (Central) park Johnson had hoped.

The two did however find common ground with both promising to take further action on climate change and sharing military and intelligence assets. They also spoke about maintaining peace in Northern Ireland during the three-day jaunt.

As for the pics, in other photos Johnson does then mask up so indicating that he was talking at that moment in time.

Nevertheless, maskless pics are not the photos we would expect official government accounts to share on social media given their potential to cause controversy.

Indeed, some people questioned why he was the only person to go without a mask:

PR nightmare.