Rishi Sunak has agreed to be interviewed by veteran political journalist Andrew Neil as he bids to become Britain's prime minister, while his rival Liz Truss has so far declined, Channel 4 has said.
The former finance minister will be grilled live on Friday on the British network, where Neil hosts a weekly politics programme having left broadcasters the BBC and GB News.
Sunak and Truss will have a live head-to-head debate on the BBC later on Monday.
Boris Johnson, who is stepping down after being forced out by his Conservative party MPs, refused to be interviewed by Neil during the 2019 general election campaign.
The prime minister was accused of "running scared" from a half-hour grilling by the heavyweight interviewer on the BBC, and dispatched Sunak to take his place in a live televised election debate instead.
Neil did interview Johnson and Jeremy Hunt earlier in 2019 as they went head-to-head in the last Conservative leadership contest.
Channel 4 hosted the first televised debate in this Tory leadership race, which saw more than 2 million people tuning in to see a series of bruising exchanges between the then-five contenders.
Louisa Compton, head of news and current affairs and specialist factual and sport at Channel 4, said: "After the success of our first audience debate we're delighted that Rishi Sunak has confirmed he will be interviewed by Andrew Neil on Channel 4.
"We hope that Liz Truss also now agrees – and allows the British public to better understand what she stands for."
Sunak has pledged to proceed with the sale of Channel 4 if he succeeds Johnson as prime minister – saying privatization would help the broadcaster compete with streaming giants.
