ALAN JOHNSON displayed his leadership credentials to the Labour Party conference yesterday when he announced plans to restore confidence in school exams and to help children in care.

The Education Secretary unveiled an overhaul of GCSE coursework to combat internet plagiarism by pupils. He said that all coursework for maths would be scrapped and that coursework for other subjects would be supervised in classroom-style conditions.

“Technology has changed the way we teach, but can also be used by some students to gain an unfair advantage,” Mr Johnson said. “We have one of the most rigorous exam systems in the world — we cannot have it devalued and undermined by the few who cheat by copying from the internet.”

He also announced extra funding for children in care, including a £2,000 bursary for those who wanted to go to university. “Every child in our society must have access to the educational opportunities that have always been available to a small elite,” he said.

The tone of Mr Johnson’s speech was crafted deliberately to dampen speculation about his leadership ambitions and instead concentrated on policy, with a theme of using education as a tool to tackle inequality, poverty and injustice.

Received politely rather than enthusiastically, it came amidst a heated row over health policy — a distracting backdrop for Mr Johnson.

Mr Johnson’s address came after a speech by Bill Clinton, in which the former US President showered praise on Mr Brown for his “brilliant vision of the future” and “brilliant economic leadership”. The carefully chosen remarks are likely to be the nearest Mr Clinton comes to endorsing the Chancellor as Tony Blair’s successor.

John Prescott broke the edict to Labour figures not to discuss the leadership at the conference by endorsing Gordon Brown last night for the first time. At a party hosted by the trade union Amicus, Mr Prescott told delegates: “Make no mistake about it. When it comes to it, Gordon Brown is the man I’m backing.”

Mr Johnson had been forced earlier to quell leadership talk. “There’s not a campaign team in place for anything, not deputy leader or leader,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He also suggested that Mr Blair might not step down until the summer. “If the PM says, ‘I want to use the rest of my time to try and resolve the Middle East problem in the same way as we tried to tackle the Northern Ireland problem’, I think it suggests he’s not talking about a couple of weeks — it’s a big problem,” he said.

“I really think people now are saying, ‘Tony, the date you set down is a matter for you’. It would be crazy to name a date.”

It is understood that Mr Johnson believes his chances of winning the leadership would be best served if Mr Blair delays his departure, allowing him time to raise his profile and for doubts about Mr Brown’s credentials to surface.

For that reason, Mr Brown’s supporters think the Chancellor’s interests would be best served by a swift resignation.

Mr Johnson’s decision to halt GCSE maths coursework comes after two reviews by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the examination watchdog, which reported last November that there was widespread evidence of cheating.

Maths was the subject that gave rise to the greatest concern. Two thirds of maths teachers questioned said that they suspected students had cheated by using the internet or asking parents or siblings for help.

However, the authority also expressed concern about science coursework, which Mr Johnson will let continue, but under tighter supervision. The changes may take two years to introduce and enforce.

Although Mr Johnson avoided being taken into care as a child — his mother died when he was 12 and he was brought up by his sister — he did not refer to that in his speech.

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