David Blunkett facing fresh integrity claims

David Blunkett was facing fresh questions last night about the extent of his role during an exam grade fiasco that threatened his son's results.

A senior official, who worked for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), has given The Observer a detailed account of a meeting where its then chief executive, Nick Tate, spoke of being placed in a moral dilemma by the marking crisis.

The source supported allegations, which emerged last week, that a senior civil servant at the Department for Education, where Blunkett was then Secretary of State, made inquiries of the authority, which oversees exams.

'The request had come from an official, or through an official, at the Department for Education.
'[Tate] came into the room and began a conversation with a couple of people about whether we were being asked to do something which he clearly felt was immoral,' said the official, whose identity The Observer has agreed to withhold. 'There was concern and confusion about whether we were being asked to make general inquiries about the exams, or Blunkett's son in particular. The circumstances speak for themselves.'

Separately, Tim Cornford, then a member of the authority's management team, told the Sunday Times they were warned the marking crisis had become more significant because of the possible involvement of the Education Secretary's son.

'There was a problem with an [A-level] subject and David Blunkett's son was awaiting a result. I would not be surprised at all if David Blunkett's office or the DfES official who liaised with QCA had given Nick a ring,' he said.

The meeting took place in August 1998 at the height of fears over a computer error which threw grades into doubt. The exam board concerned, Oxford and Cambridge, was the one used by Sheffield College, which young Blunkett attended.

The minister's critics claim that if officials intervened, even to check whether Blunkett's son was affected, that would have been a call that no ordinary parent could have made.

David Blunkett, who is now Work and Pensions Secretary, has denied interfering, and Tate has said he has no recollection of the incident.

The claims resurfaced last week in the New Statesman magazine, in the wake of allegations from the former Metropolitan police chief, Lord Stevens, that he had found Blunkett 'duplicitous and intimidating'.

Opposition politicians called for a full internal inquiry not only into the allegations, but also into the 1998 sacking of an authority employee who first alerted The Observer to the claims, although they were not published at the time.

But the authority appeared to perform a U-turn late last night when it said it had 'no plans' to launch an inquiry, having earlier indicated it would consider this.

David Cameron, the Conservative shadow education secretary, said: 'These are serious allegations and the situation needs to be clarified as soon as possible.'

He was backed by Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, who signalled that MPs will raise the issue when the Commons returns from its summer break next month.

Referring to Blunkett's resignation as Home Secretary last year, over claims that he used his position to help his lover's nanny get a visa, Davey said: 'Given Blunkett's record, there is an even stronger cause for an inquiry this time round. Abusing your position once is bad enough but if he is a serial offender, huge question marks are raised.'

Blunkett spent much of last week in America and Canada on a fact-finding trip and a senior Downing Street source said Tony Blair had not yet spoken to him about the allegations.

A spokesman for Blunkett said his son's grades had not ultimately been affected by the marking problems, which were caused by a rogue computer database entering pupils for subjects they had not studied or failing to enter them. 'We are sticking to the statement that the allegations are untrue,' he said.

From Martin Bright and Gaby in the Observer Sunday September 18, 2005