The man running the independent emergency inquiry into A-levels has said it has not been derailed by any intervention by the education secretary.

Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of schools in England, said he would resign if he felt his independence had been compromised - but it had not.

He would produce his interim report by tomorrow as planned.

Wholly improper ... for the secretary of state personally to have intervened

Sir William Stubbs

The head of the QCA exams watchdog, Sir William Stubbs, caused a storm by accusing the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, of having pre-judged the outcome of the inquiry.

He said she had done this by asking her officials to ask exam boards whether they would be in a position to re-grade all this year's A-levels.

But Ms Morris said this was simply wise contingency planning, so that she would be in a position to tell students and their parents what was going to happen when the Tomlinson report came out on Friday.

There have been calls from her political opponents and from others for her or Sir William - or both of them - to resign.

But they have both said they are not considering their positions.

How the row blew up

Sir William gave evidence to Mike Tomlinson on Thursday - having been accused previously by head teachers' representatives of having leant on exam boards to downgrade this year's A-level results.

I want to be in a position to say tomorrow afternoon, 'This is what will happen'

Estelle Morris

He had asked to give his evidence in public, but Mr Tomlinson had said that was not the way the inquiry was being run.

Sir William then said he would publish his evidence - then said Mr Tomlinson had asked him not to.

He then did publish some of it on Wednesday evening - but also came out with a dramatic statement.

Repeated attack

He said that by asking her officials to contact exam boards - key witnesses in the ongoing Tomlinson inquiry - she had "pre-empted the judgement of Mike Tomlinson" and assumed only one outcome of his findings.

"It's wholly improper in this context when the inquiry is scarcely halfway through its initial phase for the secretary of state personally to have intervened," he said.

"The independent inquiry is of a vital importance for the integrity of the awards and for the futures of the young people concerned and I believe this development is a serious risk to the integrity of the inquiry."

He repeated the charge in a round of radio and television interviews on Thursday morning.

Morris denial

Ms Morris denied having done any such thing.

She said her officials had spoken to many agencies including Universities UK on the position of higher education institutions, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, to talk about student places, as well as to the examination boards about what might be best for students.

Mike Tomlinson: Immune

Speaking on Thursday morning, she said she did not know what the outcome of Mr Tomlinson's inquiry would be on Friday but wanted "to, if you like, get the ducks in line" so she was ready to respond.

But whatever happened she could not foresee any sets of circumstances in which exam papers would need re-marking - the issue was about grade boundaries.

Tomlinson 'not affected'

It was her responsibility to offer "reassurances to young people and their parents as to what will happen and how long it might take."

Mr Tomlinson then said that whatever had happened "had no impact on the inquiry nor will I allow it to do so".

Estelle Morris has nothing to resign over

Dave, UK

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"I have not resigned nor do I intend to resign. I do intend to fulfil my remit to report initially my preliminary findings by the end of this week.

"I owe this to the students who took their A-levels this year, they are for me the primary focus of my considerations.

"I am completely satisfied that my inquiry remains independent."

Sir William responds

Later, Sir William Stubbs issued a statement saying he was "very pleased" to hear this.

"My concern all along has been to reassure young people that they can have confidence in the examinations on which their futures depend," he said.

"That is why I wanted to bring out into the open my very real concern for the integrity of this inquiry and that one of the parties involved was talking to other witnesses at a critical stage.

"Both the secretary of state and myself agree that a swift resolution of the current situation is in the best interests of the young people affected. I am confident that tomorrow the Tomlinson report will bring that much needed resolution."

Opposition criticism

The Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, backed calls by his party's education spokesman for Estelle Morris to quit.

"Her position is quite untenable. She should either be sacked or resign," he said.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Phil Willis called Sir William's intervention "a most astonishing accusation against a secretary of state".

He said the ensuing "turf war" was doing immeasurable harm to the exam system as well as to the Tomlinson inquiry.

Mr Willis said Ms Morris and Sir William could not both remain in their posts - and Sir William's position had become "untenable".

Both are toughing it out, however.

Pressed on the issue, Sir William said he was "not even thinking" about his job.

And Estelle Morris said she was "not going to consider" her position.