WHAT a difference a week makes when it comes to interviewing the Prime Minister.

Seven days ago, Sophie Raworth, presenter of BBC1's Sunday Morning, still had a Boris Johnson-shaped gap in her collection of sit-downs with party leaders.

The rest had done their bit; Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon live from her conservatory; Labour leader Keir Starmer and the Liberal Democrats’ Ed Davey in the studio. But still no Mr Johnson.

We will keep trying, Raworth promised. Readers will recall something similar happening to Andrew Neil at the last General Election.

This weekend Raworth's wish came true, and the BBC duly claimed a exclusive, leading bulletins with the interview. But given the Prime Minister’s blanket refusal to answer questions on Partygate, was this a case of be careful what you wish for?

Interviews with any Prime Minister are at the time and place of Downing Street’s choosing. Both are selected to give the premier maximum advantage. Rather than do the interview live on Sunday Morning in London, Raworth flew to Germany on Saturday, where Mr Johnson was speaking at the Munich Security Conference, and pre-recorded the piece. This not only removed some of the risks of a live chat, it ensured the interview was dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.

READ MORE: Putin "thinking illogically" over invasion

Mr Johnson had plenty of headline-grabbing views to set out, including saying that a Russian invasion could lead to “the biggest war in Europe since 1945”.

Raworth spent time on Ukraine because of its importance, and in the hope that the Prime Minister would not revert to the subject once the interview had moved on. There was no chance of that happening. His response to every question on Downing Street parties, including whether he will resign if he has to pay a fine for breaking Covid rules, was to stonewall, citing the police inquiry.

Raworth said there was no risk of prejudice, and that he had spoken before on the subject, including statements to the Commons. You can answer, she said, but you are choosing not to.

For more than ten minutes solid she tried to get a response, including raising the image of the Queen sitting alone at her husband’s funeral, and the prospect of the public following the rules in future should Covid history repeat itself. She even told him he was as unpopular as John Major. Still, nothing. Just the no-answer answers he had given before. It was the ABP, anything but Partygate, strategy in action.

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to give you full and detailed answers on all this stuff. I genuinely can’t because we’ve got a process under way – there is not a jot I can say until it is done,” said Mr Johnson.

There was more of this, including:: “I understand your curiosity, I totally accept it, but you’re just going to have to accept for the time being – and you won’t have long, I hope – but for the time being you’re going to have to contain your interest.”

Raworth had no luck either when she asked whether any public money was involved in Prince Andrew’s settlement of a sexual assault claim. “No Prime Minister ever answers questions about the royal family,” replied Mr Johnson.

READ MORE: Time to be more confident says PM

Raworth later discussed the interview with the newspaper review guests, Pippa Crerar, the political editor of the Mirror, and Katy Balls, deputy political editor of The Spectator. Was it a legal or a political decision not to talk about the police investigation and what happens next, Raworth asked.

“As far as I can work out there is no legal impediment to him talking about what has gone on in the whole Partygate saga,” said Crerar. “It could be that he has received advice from his lawyers not to incriminate himself further by talking about things beyond which are already in the public domain.

“But it does seem he is legally able to should he want to. The issue here is a political impediment. He doesn’t want to be focussing on Partygate [but] on Ukraine, Covid, on any other domestic issue, anything which distracts from what has been an incredibly difficult time for his leadership.”

Raworth’s interview generated several news lines, even if the Prime Minister would say nothing on Partygate. Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday had to make do with James Cleverly, the Europe Minister, who said a Russian invasion of Ukraine was “far more likely than unlikely”, adding nothing to what had already been said by the Government.

To cap a scrappy day BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show was radio only due to the Scottish Parliament being in recess. Normal service resumes next Sunday.