The BBC’s Andrew Neil gave a startling rebuke to Boris Johnson for failing to give him an interview.

After giving Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage a tough time in the hot seat, Mr Neil delivered a three minutes’ monologue straight to camera.

Talking directly to the Prime Minister he challenged him to a sit-down chat.

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He suggested he couldn’t hope to be a world statesman if he was too frightened to be interviewed by a veteran broadcaster.

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 spends half an hour standing up to me.”

Mr Neil suggested Mr Johnson has said “no” because he knows his election campaign doesn’t bear scrutiny.

He gibed: “It is not too late. We have an interview prepared.

“Oven-ready, as Mr Johnson would say”.

He added: “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.

“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.”