Michael Gove gives out No10 phone number as he is grilled over PM's Andrew Neil dodging

The Tories today hit back at the BBC over claims Boris Johnson is dodging a grilling from Andrew Neil – dismissing it as a ‘tired format’.

A senior party source said voters were fed up with programmes that were ‘all about the interviewer’ and involved ‘endless interruptions’.

The furious retort came after Neil, one of the broadcaster’s most forensic interrogators, issued a sensational challenge to Mr Johnson last night after weeks of negotiations with his aides.

All the main leaders apart from the Tory PM have now taken part in the half-hour BBC One inquisition – with Jeremy Corbyn suffering a disastrous mauling over Labour anti-Semitism and his manifesto spending splurge.

In a withering put-down which has racked up over a million views online, Neil questioned how Mr Johnson hoped to face down strongmen on the world stage if he was too frightened to be interviewed.

Staring straight down the camera, he said: ‘The Prime Minister of our nation will at times have to stand up to President Trump, President Putin, President Xi of China.

‘So we’re surely not expecting too much that he spend half an hour standing up to me.’

Neil heaped further pressure on Mr Johnson by ’empty-chairing’ him and suggesting his decision to sidestep an interview was because his campaign pledges to not stand up to scrutiny.

But the senior Conservative source said: ‘The public are fed up with interviews that are all about the interviewer and endless interruptions.

‘The format is broken and needs to change if it is to start engaging and informing the public again.

‘The PM will focus on talking to voters about people’s priorities including investing in our NHS and helping with the cost of living.’

The Conservatives stressed that Mr Johnson has done 117 interviews during the campaign so far, and was the first PM to agree to two head-to-head debates with the Opposition leader.

Michael Gove bizarrely urged voters to ring Downing Street today and ask whether Mr Johnson will agree to be grilled by Neil.

Michael Gove (pictured) was pushed on whether Boris Johnson will do the Andrew Neil interview as he toured studios this morning, ahead of the last BBC head-to-head debate between the PM and Jeremy Corbyn

Neil heaped further pressure on Mr Johnson by ’empty-chairing’ him and suggesting his decision to sidestep an interview were because his campaign pledges to not stand up to scrutiny

Mr Johnson visited a kosher bakery in Golders Green this morning as he stepped up the election campaign

Mr Gove was pushed on the issue as he toured studios this morning, ahead of the last BBC head-to-head debate between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn tonight.

Asked to put a probability on the PM taking on Neil, Mr Gove trotted out the No10 switchboard number.

‘That’s the Downing Street number and if you ring the PM’s diary secretary he will know, or she will know, what the PM is going to do,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

‘I am not the PM’s diary secretary.’

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Gove pointed out Mr Johnson was the first PM in history to agree to two head-to-head TV debates with the Opposition leader.

‘Voters have an opportunity tonight to put questions to the PM, to see those questions put, and to see both sides.. put forward their policies,’ he said.

Boris Johnson compares Jeremy Corbyn to a UFO conspiracy theorist

Boris Johnson compared Jeremy Corbyn to a UFO conspiracy theorist today as he gave a ‘cast iron’ guarantee the NHS will not be on the table in a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, the PM appealed for voters to give him a majority on December 12 so the country can pass his EU divorce package and ‘move on’.

Mr Johnson dismissed Labour ‘scare stories’ that the NHS could form part of a trade agreement with the US after Brexit.

He said: ‘This is absolute nonsense. I think it is a scare story that comes up time and time again at every election.

‘I love the NHS. It is a most fantastic institution. Look at what we are doing. As I have said many times, it exemplifies the very best of this country.’

‘The PM as I say is reviewing and reflecting on all the invitations… I don’t have access to the PM’s diary.’

‘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.’

Neil also appealed to the well-entrenched principle that leaders be opened up to scrutiny, saying: ‘Leaders’ interviews have been a key part of the BBC’s prime-time election coverage for decades.

‘We do them, on your behalf, to scrutinise and hold to account those who would govern us. That is democracy.’

‘We have always proceeded in good faith that the leaders would participate. And in every election they have. All of them. Until this one.’

Mr Johnson’s political rivals have scorned his blunt refusal to appear before Neil since it emerged he intended to sidestep an interview.

Liberal Democrat Leader Jo Swinson said: ‘Boris Johnson must stop ducking scrutiny. His cowardly behaviour shows why he simply isn’t fit to be prime minister.

‘How can we expect Johnson to stand up to Trump or Putin if he won’t even agree to a half-hour interview with Andrew Neil?’

Ian Lavery, chairman of the Labour Party, said: ‘Boris Johnson thinks he’s born to rule and doesn’t have to face scrutiny.

‘He’s running scared because every time he is confronted with the impact of nine years of austerity, the cost of living crisis and his plans to sell out our NHS, the more he is exposed.’

Andrew Neil issued an astonishing monologue aimed at the Prime Minister last night as he finished interrogating Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage

The PM, who continues to dodge a Neil grilling, tried his hand at sewing on a campaign trip to John Smedley Mill in Matlock today

Neil’s blistering monologue continued to question the PM’s bold election pledges: ‘Can he be trusted to deliver 50,000 more nurses? When almost 20,000 in his numbers are already working for the NHS.

Nigel Farage would challenge Donald Trump over NHS drug prices

Nigel Farage suggested today he would stand up to US president over drug prices for the NHS if he was involved in a post-Brexit trade deal – but would be happy to accept American chlorinated chicken.

The Brexit Party leader made the claim as he sat down for a prime-time television grilling with the BBC’s Andrew Neil on a day of drama that sawe four of his MEPs dramatically quit over election policy.

Mr Farage said that the argument over drug prices – that they would rise under a new transatlantic free trade deal – was ‘utterly ludicrous’, adding: ‘No British government would sign up to more expensive drugs.’

But he signalled that it would not be the case of a breakdown in talks, adding: ‘We just wouldn’t buy his drugs would we? It’s very simple.’

‘He promises 40 new hospitals. But only six are scheduled to be built by 2025.’

‘Can he be believed when he claims another 34 will be built in the five years after that?

‘Can he be trusted to fund the NHS properly, when he used a cash figure of an extra £34 billion?

‘After inflation, the additional money promised amounts to £20 billion.

‘He vows that the NHS will not be on the table with any trade talks with America. But he vowed to the DUP, his unionist allies in Northern Ireland, that there would never be a border down the Irish Sea.

‘That is as important to the DUP as the NHS is to the rest of us. It is a vow his Brexit deal would seem to break.’

The BBC has faced criticism itself for not tying Mr Johnson in to a time or date for an interview with Neil before other leaders took part.

Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson and Mr Farage have all taken part.

The Labour leader in particular was judged to suffer a skewering after refusing to apologise for the party’s anti-Semitism crisis.

Neil’s monologue quickly racked up thousands of views online and social media was flooded with praise for the broadcaster’s remarks

Mr Johnson appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday after an initial stand-off with the BBC, and today he appeared on This Morning with Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

But he continues to swerve Neil with a week to go until the election and has also refused to sit down with ITV’s Julie Etchingham.

Neil also suggested that This Morning was an easy option for the Prime Minister, retweeting a sarcastic description of the ‘highly respected political interviewers’ Schofield and Willoughby.

Every other leader of Britain’s major political parties has agreed to appear on ITV’s Tonight programme, but Mr Johnson’s team confirmed on Thursday that he would not be taking part.

Neil’s monologue quickly racked up over a million views online and social media was flooded with praise for the broadcaster’s remarks.

Full transcript of Andrew Neil’s monologue to Boris Johnson

‘And that concludes our fourth leaders’ interview for the general election of 2019. There is, of course, still one to be done. Boris Johnson. The prime minister.

‘We have been asking him for weeks now to give us a date, a time, a venue. As of now, none has been forthcoming.

‘No broadcaster can compel a politician to be interviewed.

‘But leaders’ interviews have been a key part of the BBC’s prime-time election coverage for decades. We do them, on your behalf, to scrutinise and hold to account those who would govern us. That is democracy.

‘We have always proceeded in good faith that the leaders would participate. And in every election they have. All of them. Until this one.

‘It is not too late. We have an interview prepared. Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson likes to say.

‘It is, of course, relevant to what he is promising us all now.

‘Can he be trusted to deliver 50,000 more nurses when almost 20,000 in his numbers are already working for the NHS?

‘He promises 40 new hospitals. But only six are scheduled to be built by 2025. Can he be believed when he claims another 34 will be built in the five years after that?

‘Can he be trusted to fund the NHS properly when he uses a cash figure of an extra £34bn? After inflation the additional money promised amounts to £20bn.

‘He vows that the NHS will not be on the table in any trade talks with America.

‘But he vowed to the DUP, his Unionist allies in Northern Ireland, that there would never be a border down the Irish Sea. That is as important to the DUP as the NHS is to the rest of us. It is a vow his Brexit deal would seem to break.

‘Now he tells us he’s always been an opponent of austerity. We would ask him for evidence of that.

‘And we would want to know why an opponent of austerity would bake so much of it into their future spending plans.

‘We would ask why, as with the proposed increase in police numbers, so many of his promises only take us back to the future. Back to where we were before austerity began.

‘Social care is an issue of growing concern. On the steps of Downing Street in July he said he’d prepared a plan for social care. We’d ask him why that plan is not in his manifesto.

‘Questions of trust. Questions we’d like to put to Mr Johnson so you can hear his replies. But we can’t. Because he won’t sit down with us.

‘There is no law, no Supreme Court ruling that can force Mr Johnson to participate in a BBC leaders’ interview.

‘But the prime minister of our nation will, at times, have to stand up to President Trump, President Putin, President Xi of China. So it was surely not expecting too much that he spend half an hour standing up to me.

‘Good night.’