Chris Woodhead spoke following a statement from the actor and children's author Tony Robinson.

Tony Robinson: Labour supporter

Mr Robinson bolstered claims by Mr Woodhead's former wife, Cathy, that the chief inspector's affair with Amanda Johnston began while she was a pupil and he was a teacher at Gordano School near Bristol.

Mr Woodhead and Ms Johnston have said they met only after both had left the school.

"He isn't a chap I have ever known or who was ever on my Christmas card list," Mr Woodhead said of Mr Robinson.

"To the best of my knowledge I still have the support of the prime minister and [Education Secretary] David Blunkett."

'Innuendo' - Blunkett

Mr Blunkett said on Sky TV that "tittle tattle" did not threaten the chief inspector's job and the government would treat him as it would any other employee.

"Simple innuendo or speculation on something going back 25 years that may or may not have happened is not material to someone keeping their job in 1999," he said.

In the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Mr Robinson said he was one of a group of friends who had given support to Cathy Woodhead in 1976 during the break-up of her marriage.

During this time, he heard from other teachers at Gordano School that Mr Woodhead had been having an affair with a sixth former there named Amanda.

Either the chief inspector was lying, or fellow teachers and friends of his wife had "created a fiction", Mr Robinson said.

He said he found such a scenario "implausible".