ANDREW Neil has “challenged” Boris Johnson to an interview on the theme of trust.
The challenge comes as Johnson has failed to organise a slot yet, says the BBC veteran. So will Andrew Neil interview Boris Johnson? Here’s everything we know.
Will Boris Johnson be interviewed by Andrew Neil?
Andrew Neil has challenged the current PM to a leaders interview.
He made the address at the end of his interview with Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage on Thursday, December 5.
Neil said: “It is not too late. We have an interview prepared. Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson likes to say.
“Leaders’ interviews have been a key part of the BBC’s prime-time election coverage for decades.
“We have always proceeded in good faith that the leaders would participate. And in every election they have. All of them. Until this one.”
The BBC journo claims that Johnson and his team have failed to organise a time and date for the interview.
A senior Tory source had previously told HOAR they were still “in discussions” with the BBC regarding the sit-down chat.
But Boris appeared to signal his support for an interview on the Andrew Marr Show some four days before Neil’s appeal.
He said: “I am perfectly happy to be interviewed by any interviewer called Andrew from the BBC, and we will make sure that [happens].”
Which other leaders has Andrew Neil interviewed?
So far, the legendary broadcaster has interviewed Nigel Farage, Jo Swinson, Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn.
Farage used the opportunity to call out severel Brexit Party defectors.
Despite the Brexit Party leader not actually standing in this election he is still fronting up the party’s campaigning.
He accused Jacob Rees-Mogg’s sister Annunziata, along with John Longworth, Lance Forman and Lucy Harris of being Tory stooges and pointed out they all had close Conservative links.
Swinson’s interview was opened with a cutting: “Can we agree to conduct this interview on the basis you will not be the next prime minister?
But the Lib Dem leader used the chat to put emphasis on how she was: “Very glad to be standing up for millions of people who want to stop Brexit.”
Sturgeon was grilled on Brexit, and her governments record in Scotland.
Mr Neil branded Scotland’s leader “self-serving and inconsistent” for being prepared to back a second Brexit referendum, but not a confirmatory referendum on Scottish independence.
Corbyn’s interview saw the leftie boss face tough questions about antisemitism.
However, Corbyn refused to apologise sparking a flurry of front pages the next day.
What has Andrew Neil said about interviewing Boris?
Last time he was interviewed by Neil, Johnson said that crime in London fell by 20 per cent during the time he was mayor of the capital.
He repeated his claim that the issue of the Irish border backstop could be sorted out after Brexit had happened, saying it should be “deleted” from the current Withdrawal Agreement and discussions on the issue should be part of any trade agreement.
But in his message to the PM, Neil said the interview would be based on the theme of “trust.”
He said: “The theme running through our questions is trust – and why at so many times in his career, in politics and journalism, critics and sometimes even those close to him have deemed him to be untrustworthy.
“It is, of course, relevant to what he is promising us all now.”
He questioned several of Boris’s plans, including extra nurses and the Irish backstop – as well as the million dollar question about the NHS.
Have Boris Johnson and Andrew Neil both worked at The Spectator?
Back in 2004 it was reported by the Guardian that: “The owners of the Spectator have moved to rein in its troublesome editor, Boris Johnson, by putting Andrew Neil in charge of the political magazine.”
At the time, Johnson was said to be “a little apprehensive” of Neil’s appointment.
One year after Neil’s appointment, Boris resigned.
