After Nicola Sturgeon complaints BBC's Andrew Marr faces third tranche of 'bias' allegations

It is the third interview that has come under the microscope since the BBC looked into complaints of bias in relation to the First Minister’s appearance on The Andrew Marr Show on November 29.

Some complained about 'intrusive interrogation' in particular about the possibility of a Scottish independence referendum during an interview.

The Prime Minister reiterated his position that a Scottish independence referendum should be a “once-in-a-generation” vote while also saying that schools should be kept open.

He said that the gap between referendums on Europe – the first in 1975 and the second in 2016 – was “a good sort of gap”.

Mr Marr suggested that now “things had changed” for Scotland, after leaving the European Union and the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE: After Nicola Sturgeon complaints BBC's Andrew Marr cleared again over bias

"Imagine me as a Scottish voter sitting in Edinburgh or Glasgow, maybe I voted in favour of the union in the referendum," Mr Marr said. "But since then I have seen Brexit happen, and I don't like Brexit. And I've seen the way your government has behaved over the coronavirus pandemic and prefer Nicola Sturgeon's version of that and I want my country, Scotland, to leave the UK. What are the democratic tools in my hands to do that?"

Mr Johnson said: “Referendums in my experience, direct experience, in this country are not particularly jolly events."

Mr Marr said: "But they change things."

Mr Johnson responded: "They don’t have a notably unifying force in the national mood, they should be only once in a generation.”

Mr Marr asked: "What is different about the English wanting to leave the EU and having a referendum and being allowed to do that and Scotland wanting to leave the UK and doing exactly the same thing.   What's the difference?" 

Mr Johnson responded: “The difference is we had a referendum in 1975 and we then had another one in 2016.

“That seems to be about the right sort of gap.”

The BBC has refused to discuss the new tranche of complaints.

More than three times as many complaints were sent to the BBC about bias against Mr Johnson than the second most complained about item in the period, which was the Black Lives Matter (BLM) symbol appearing during the Happy New Year Live! show.

READ MORE: BBC dismiss complaints of Andrew Marr 'bias' against Nicola Sturgeon in interview

It comes after the publicly-funded broadcaster dismissed complaints of bias by Mr Marr against the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in what was one of the most complained-about shows of the year.

The complaints related specifically to the First Minister’s appearance on The Andrew Marr Show on November 29 in which the Scots presenter suggested there was a "gap" between reality and her public claims about both the Alex Salmond scandal, her government's coronavirus record and the state of education in Scotland.

Andrew Marr, the Glasgow-born journalist and author, presented an attitude towards the First Minister which some compared to an “attack dog” who was aiming not for a political interview but a “character assassination”.

As of December 10, the BBC’s figures reported that 161 complaints were received relating to “bias against SNP" in the earlier interview with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

At the end of December the BBC dismissed a fresh set of complaints about December 13 edition of The Andrew Marr Show - raising concerns that the presenter appeared to be defending the government over Brexit while interrupting former Labour leader Ed Milliband too much.

At one point the Glasgow-born journalist and author described as "mealy mouthed" Mr Milliband's comment that Labour would have to look at the detail of any trade deal with the EU before deciding to fully support it.

Complaints to the BBC compared what some described as an "aggressive confrontational attitude" to both Mr Miliband and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin while having an "acquiescent" attitude to foreign secretary Dominic Raab.

On the show, in an exchange with the Mr Milliband who had said a no deal Brexit would be a "disastrous outcome" Mr Marr asked if Boris Johnson could guarantee Labour support if he came to the House of Commons with a deal.

When the shadow business secretary responded that the detail would have to be looked at, Mr Marr responded: "No, no, no. You've just said no deal is the worst possible outcome, therefore if a deal comes back you must vote for it."

But the BBC has insisted that it did not consider Mr Milliband was treated an differently to other guests on the show.

During the Boris Johnson interview, the Prime Minister slapped down the journalist for questioning him on why the Government did not put the country into a lockdown sooner.

The Prime Minister said a new variant of the disease could not be foreseen.

The BBC host asked: "In July your Government commissioned a report about what was going to happen in this winter. Keir Starmer said to you, have you read it? And you hadn't read it. Have you read it now?"

Mr Johnson said: "Let's get something clear. This Government has taken every reasonable and possible step to prepare this country for the consequences of winter.

"What we could not have foreseen was the arrival of a new variant of the vaccine which was spreading between 50 to 70 percent faster."

Mr Marr added: "Except this report, you perhaps should have read in July, does talk directly about the danger of mutation and describes in extraordinary detail exactly what is happening now."

The Prime Minister interjected: "Which is exactly why we took the action that we did.

"The Government has done everything we can to urge people not to allow community transmission."

Mr Marr continued: "On September 31, SAGE talked about a national lockdown, a circuit breaker, and you waited for seven weeks."

Mr Johnson hit back as he branded it "absolute nonsense".

The Prime Minister noted: "You could have spent from March onwards, you could have spent the entire year in lockdown.

"You could have closed everything."

He said that circuit breakers "buy you some temporary respite" from the spread of COVID-19.

Mr Johnson signalled current anti-Covid measures were likely to get tougher.

He said: "What we are doing now is using the tiering system, which is a very tough system... and, alas, probably about to get tougher to keep things under control.