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The top Tory who's forcing a new maths test on 11-year-olds refused to answer it herself on live TV.

Nicky Morgan clammed up when asked about her times tables - despite now launching a nationwide crackdown.

Today the Education Secretary announced all Year 6 pupils will be expected to know up to 12 x 12 , with action against teachers who don't come up to scratch.

But it was a different story for the minister when she appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain in February .

She was asked to compute 7 x 8, the question which famously tripped up Labour schools minister Stephen Byers in 1998.

Ms Morgan replied: "I'm not going to be answering any maths questions."

Incredulous host Susanna Reid said: "Do you not think there is an irony that the education secretary won't answer questions about the times tables but requires every primary school child to know them?"

But the minister stuck to her guns, dodging the question three times.

She said: "I know what it's like with these interviews.

"I'll be doing lots of interviews this morning and there will be one where I get it wrong and that's the one that everyone's going to be focused on."

(Image: Rex)

The new on-screen tests against the clock will be piloted by 3,000 students in 80 schools this summer before being rolled out countrywide in 2017.

Ms Morgan said maths was "non-negotiable", adding: "We've seen record numbers of 11 year olds start secondary school with a good grasp of the three Rs. But some continue to struggle."

But unions and Labour slammed the Tory plan - saying it focused on something primary schools have done for decades while missing the true crisis of teacher recruitment.

Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: "Times tables have long been a core part of excellent numeracy in our primary schools, and of testing.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

"This announcement smacks of a government which has run out of ideas for educational improvement."

National Union of Teachers General Secretary Christine Blower added: "As primary school pupils already have to learn their times tables by the end of year 4 , Nicky Morgan's announcement is clearly not about educational attainment but about the introduction of yet another test.

"We already have the most tested pupils in Europe.

"Such endless testing stifles creativity and is ruining many children's experience of learning."

Now try our times tables quick-fire quiz

How well do you know your sums - and would you pass the exam if you had to sit it now?

Try our fiendish 10-question quiz below.

Watch out, because it speeds up as you go along - and if you get one wrong answer you must return to the start.