ELECTIONS on the horizon and on the Sunday shows it was questions, questions everywhere, and not a straightforward answer to be had.

Was the row between Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings just a Westminster soap opera or deadly serious? Would an independent Scotland inside the EU have a hard border with England? And what does the Trade Secretary think about John Lewis home furnishings?

The story of the day was the continuing fallout from Mr Cummings’ blog post last Friday. The former aide alleged the PM tried to stop a leak inquiry because it was leading to a friend of his fiancee, Carrie Symonds. He also claimed to have told the PM his plan to have donors pay for a refurbishment of his Downing Street flat was “unethical, foolish, and possibly illegal”.

Extraordinary accusations, offering opposition parties much to feast on. Not for Nicola Sturgeon, though, who had the top interview slot on The Andrew Marr Show. The BBC man had another subject in mind for her: a border between Scotland and England.

Marr thought it unlikely at best that an independent Scotland would be the only part of the EU allowed to have an open border with a non-EU member.

The First Minister, while acknowledging there could be “practical difficulties”, said she would work to ensure trade flowed smoothly.

It was a lively 20-minute exchange and the right tack for Marr to take because it took the SNP leader directly on to the economic ground on which any future independence referendum will be most closely fought.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar had an easier time of it on Marr and on Sky News’s Ridge on Sunday. Since he has only been in the job for eight weeks he could hardly be tackled on his record, so talk turned instead to recovery from the pandemic and how he wanted nothing to do with a second referendum. He crammed in the sound bites. “I can feel a speech coming on,” said Marr.

READ MORE: SNP demand 'full disclosure' over claims

Mr Sarwar refused to speculate on what Labour’s position would be should the election produce a pro-independence majority. A couple of sticky moments in the TV debates aside, he has managed to hold this line. The expiration date on it is fast approaching, however.

Trade Secretary Liz Truss had lots she wanted to say about the trade deal she was negotiating with Australia (whisky and cars among the goods to benefit). Alas for her, every interviewer wanted to talk about the Downing Street flat makeover.

I’ve never set foot in the place, she told Marr. “So you don’t know whether the ‘John Lewis nightmare’ has been got rid of?” he asked. This was supposedly Ms Symonds’ description of the furniture left behind by the Mays.

“A lot of people, including myself, see John Lewis as rather aspirational,” added the Scots presenter, digging the trap deeper.

The Minister, a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, refused to jump in. “John Lewis is a brilliant shop but I haven’t seen the Number 10 flat in any of its guises.”

Marr dived in again, this time on the leaking of the UK Government’s plan for a second lockdown.

“Now I can’t quite believe I’m asking this,” he began. “This is a surreal moment. Is it possible that the Prime Minister wanted that inquiry to be stopped because he was fearful that the outcome would offend his girlfriend?”

That was “a complete load of Westminstar tittle-tattle that people simply don’t care about”, said Ms Truss, echoing her boss’s line that people did not give “a monkeys” about leaks.

READ MORE: 'I can take Sturgeon on,' says Sarwar

True, the sleaze claims are not harming the Conservatives in the polls. One recent survey put the party on 44% with Labour on 33%: a result barely changed since the last General Election.

It is notable, though, that the poll was conducted on April 22-23, after the Cameron and Dyson rows but before the publication of the Cummings blog.

Cummings’ claim about the flat matters because, if true, the rules on proper disclosure of donations could have been broken. Of far more importance is his insistence that the PM tried to halt the inquiry into the November lockdown leak, and that in general he delayed the shutdown because of the economic costs.

If it can be shown, or on the balance of probabilities people believe, that loose lips or dithering cost lives, the PM would be in serious trouble. No question.

Mr Cummings has promised to give further information to MPs when he appears before a parliamentary inquiry on May 26. Those photographs of him leaving Downing Street last November with a large box and a stuffed rucksack have suddenly assumed fresh significance.

The row will be kept going today when Labour tables an emergency question in the Commons.

But even with all opposition parties now united in pursuit of the Government it might not be enough to place Mr Johnson in danger. As Caroline Wheeler, the Sunday Times deputy political editor and one of the reporters who have led on the “sleaze” story, said yesterday: “Talk of leadership contests is very premature at this stage.”

That could change depending on Cummings’ appearance before MPs. The elections will be over by then, but the questions will remain.