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The PM again failed to commit to an interview by the BBC’s Andrew Neil despite Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn being grilled by the veteran journalist last week.
Mr Johnson said he was “perfectly happy to be interviewed by any interviewer called Andrew from the BBC” – though he said he had taken part in many interviews during the campaign, adding that “no previous prime minister has done one-on-one TV debates”.
The Conservative leader has repeatedly refused to commit to an interview with Neil, despite other party leaders agreeing to be quizzed.
Mr Marr said: “It is a different audience. I am doing on this programme interviews with all the party leaders including yourself. Andrew Neil is trying to do interviews with all the party leaders in an evening slot with a different audience.
“Everyone else has done it, why won’t you?” Marr added.
Mr Johnson countered by saying: “He [Neil] couldn’t have a more brilliant agent, if I may say so, than you.”
He added: “I think what the people of this country want to know is what is our programme for government.”
He also confirmed he would meet US President Donald Trump when he attends the NATO summit in London this week, but sidestepped a question on whether he was worried he would say something embarrassing.
Marr and Mr Johnson also spoke about the London Bridge terror attack during which the PM denied that cuts made to the probation system by the Conservatives were a mistake.
The Prime Minister claimed the release of Usman Khan was down to law changes made in 2008 under former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown.
Khan, who was sent to prison in 2010 for terror offences, was released in 2018 automatically having served half of his 16-year sentence.
He had initially been given an indeterminate sentence, but this was overruled in 2012 by the Court of Appeal.
Mr Johnson also told BBC that 74 people jailed for terror offences and released early will have their licence conditions reviewed after the terror attack.
In the heated debate, Mr Johnson said: “The reason this killer was out on the streets was because of automatic early release which was brought in by a leftie government.”
He added: “That is why this new Conservative administration is putting £2.5 billion into our prison service.”
Asked why this has not happened under the last years of Conservative government, he added: “I’m a new Prime Minister, we take a different approach.”
Mr Johnson has come under fire for trying to politicising the terror attack and making it an election issue.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said his behaviour had been “pretty distasteful”
Adding: “This was an opportunity for Boris Johnson to be a statesman and yet again he has failed in that and just shown why he is not fit for the job of Prime Minister.”
Mr Corbyn, meanwhile, told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that it “depends on the circumstances” and that it was “not necessarily” the case that people convicted of terrorism offences needed to serve a full prison sentence.
Mr Corbyn said that “the war on terror has manifestly failed”.
The BBC’s decision to schedule the interview with Marr when the Prime Minister has still not committed to sitting down with Neil – who Jeremy Corbyn faced last week – was branded “wrong” and “shameful”.
It had been reported that the BBC had told Mr Johnson he would not be allowed to face Marr on Sunday unless he also agreed to be interviewed by Neil too.
But in a statement, the corporation said: “As the national public service broadcaster, the BBC’s first priority must be its audience.
“In the wake of a major terrorist incident, we believe it is now in the public interest that the Prime Minister should be interviewed on our flagship Sunday political programme.
“All parties’ election policy proposals must – and will – face detailed scrutiny from us and we continue to urge Boris Johnson to take part in the prime-time Andrew Neil interview as other leaders have done.”
Labour candidates have accused the BBC of “abject surrender” in allowing the Prime Minister to be interviewed by Marr without agreeing to an interview with Neil.
Mr Corbyn faced a brutal questioning from Neil on allegations of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, in which he refused four times to apologise to the Jewish community.
