Everything you need to know about the Johnson vs Corbyn BBC debate

radio 4 Today programme regular and former BBC political editor Nick Robinson will be the moderator, putting questions and keeping order.

– Where will the leaders stand?

Each man will stand in front of a podium, a few feet apart. Following a toss of coins, the leaders will decide who stands on the right and who on the left.

– What’s the format?

Each leader will make a 60 second opening statement. They will then debate questions put by members of the audience and sent in by BBC viewers online. There will be final closing statements of 30 seconds each.

Again following a toss of coins, Labour got to choose the order of the opening statements and opted to go first, while the Conservatives chose to go second in the closing statements.

– How is the debate audience chosen?

The audience has been selected to include equal numbers of Conservative and Labour supporters, with a smaller number of undecided voters and supporters of other parties.

It has also been weighted to include a slim majority of Leave voters over Remainers in the EU referendum, apart from a few younger voters who were not old enough to vote in 2016.

– What are pollsters saying?

Pollsters YouGov are predicting a Johnson win, but say that his previous performance has dampened expectations. The prime minister’s lead has dropped from 14 points to five points since the last head-to-head debate, hosted by ITV in November.

– How did they do last time?

At the ITV debate pollsters YouGov found that perceptions of the best performance were tightly split 51-49 in favour of the prime minister.

Johnson was deemed to be more ‘prime ministerial’ and ‘likeable’, while Corbyn was considered more ‘in touch’ and ‘trustworthy’.

– Where can I watch the debate and what time is it on?

The debate will be held in front of a studio audience in Maidstone, Kent, and will run for an hour live on BBC1 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.