Andrew Neil looked down the camera on Thursday night, addressing an audience of millions, and challenged Boris Johnson to face a primetime one-on-one interview about his suitability for the highest office in the country.

In response, the Conservatives have told the BBC to go away and find a better format.

A senior Tory party source has responded to Neil’s challenge to appear on the BBC One leaders’ interviews by saying live televised interviews are anachronistic and pointless: “The public are fed up with interviews that are all about the interviewer and endless interruptions. The format is tired and broken and needs to change if it is to start engaging and informing the public again.”

The Conservative source insisted they were not definitely ruling out putting the prime minister up for an Andrew Neil interview, although with only days left of the campaign there are few opportunities for it take place and the Conservatives have shown no inclination to fix a date.

Every other major party leader has subjected themselves to a halfhour interview by Neil, often resulting in a string of negative headlines following his tough line of questioning.

However, the Conservatives have shown themselves increasingly willing to break with traditional campaigning norms – with limited downsides in a disintegrating media age where television ratings are falling. The potential pitfalls of a viral clip of Johnson struggling under scrutiny and seen by millions on social media could be substantially more damaging than the negative headlines around him running away from the interview. Read more

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