Ex-mayor willing to take on PM in Vote Leave debate

Boris Johnson has declared he is prepared to take on the prime minister in an EU referendum debate but refused to back the official ‘out’ campaign’s attack on ITV’s event featuring David Cameron and Nigel Farage.Johnson is a leading member of the Vote Leave group, which released two furious statements on Wednesday night implying it would seek retribution against ITV and launch legal action for not being invited to the debate, as well as suggesting that Cameron would not be in No 10 much longer.The former London mayor would not join the attacks, merely saying he would be happy to debate with anyone. He also distanced himself from the suggestion that Cameron would soon be leaving Downing Street, saying it was complete nonsense to say the referendum would lead to a change of government.One of the Vote Leave statements questioned the impartiality of ITV and Robert Peston, its political editor. Peston dismissed this as untrue and a “mad slur” against him. Vote Leave also suggested ITV would regret its behaviour as the current incumbents of No 10 would not be around for much longer.Yesterday morning, the campaign group had slightly tempered its tone, but a spokesman continued to threaten legal action against ITV for putting up the Ukip leader as Cameron’s opponent instead of one of its leading figures like Johnson or Michael Gove.Asked about the Vote Leave statements, Johnson initially claimed he had not read them as he arrived at a steel factory in Christchurch, Dorset. But pressed further after a speech, he dismissed the row as “microcosmographica” and urged people to stop obsessing over the debates.“I would much rather talk about the issues that matter to the people of the country and the great choice that we face in a few weeks’ time,” he said. “The more we bang on about who is going to be talking to whom in the debate, the more people’s eyes will frankly glaze over.“We need to focus on choice, and the choice is between freedom and I think an endlessly more bureaucratic regime; it’s between democracy and bureaucracy, and it’s between the future and the past.”However, Vote Leave plans to continue to fight ITV’s decision to let Farage be the voice of the ‘out’ campaigners in the programme, which will see the two politicians interviewed separately in front of a studio audience.ITV invited the Ukip leader to take part because it believed the prime minister would not agree to appear in the same programme as Johnson and Gove. Johnson had also initially suggested he did not want debate against other senior Tories before appearing to shift his position.Yesterday, Johnson said he was happy to debate Cameron or anyone else head to head, having already said it would be “wet” and “wimpy” to refuse to take on anyone, but he would not apply those terms to the prime minister.“I am happy to debate anybody within reason,” he said. “I will do whatever. I think the most important thing is that this subject of personalities and debates doesn’t start to dominate the next few weeks.”The Guardian can also reveal that Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne, are refusing to appear in the BBC’s headline pre-election programme at Wembley Arena to avoid turning the referendum into a “blue on blue” battle.The row came after ITV and Sky News unveiled their plans for the run-up to the referendum. Sky will host shows with Cameron and Gove – but on separate days.Cameron is prepared to take part in programmes but, as in the 2015 election campaign, is reluctant to do anything head to head. A senior Conservative source said: “This argument is not about a Tory civil war, it is about the position you take on Europe, and the public deserve to hear that.” He said Cameron did not want the arguments to be seen through an internal party lens.Farage, who is linked to Grassroots Out, a rival leave campaign that did not receive the official designation, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the reaction of Vote Leave.A senior source linked to Vote Leave sent out a statement on Wednesday night that said: “ITV has lied to us in private while secretly stitching up a deal with Cameron to stop Boris Johnson or Michael Gove debating the issues properly.” He said Peston had campaigned for Britain to join the euro.