Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has had his request to appear at the Leveson Inquiry early refused after pledging to hand over his private emails about the BSkyB takeover bid.
Lord Justice Leveson had decided not to change the scheduling "in the interests of fairness to all", a spokesman said.
It follows criticism of Mr Hunt's handling of News Corporation's bid to take over the whole of BSkyB.
Mr Hunt said the emails would show that he had acted with "total integrity".
Labour and some Lib Dems want a separate probe into whether he breached the ministerial code of conduct.
A date for Mr Hunt's appearance has not been set, but politicians will not be called until mid-May.
BBC political correspondent Robin Brant said it was now clear that only David Cameron would make any decision on whether Mr Hunt broke the rules, because Lord Leveson had emphasised that he would not act as an arbiter.
'Best context'Mr Hunt wanted to appear at the Leveson inquiry sooner than planned so he could deal with the crisis around his role in the failed takeover of BSkyB, our correspondent added.
Analysis
At the end of a dangerous week for Jeremy Hunt two things are clear about the culture secretary and the Leveson Inquiry.
First, Mr Hunt's attempt to speed things up, assisted by the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, angered the Leveson team.
They didn't like being pressured by politicians with a problem.
Second, the issue of the ministerial code and abiding or not abiding by it, will not change one bit.
Lord Justice Leveson has made it clear only the prime minister is the arbiter of the code - he won't and can't make any judgement on it.
So calls for the prime minister to order an inquiry could grow.
Jeremy Hunt will have to sit tight for a few weeks yet - assuming he can - and those private e-mails and texts he claims will vindicate his position can't help him for a few weeks yet.
On Friday Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg backed the idea of using the Leveson inquiry to investigate Mr Hunt's conduct, saying the inquiry was "the best context... to find out what happened or what didn't happen."
Mr Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith has resigned over what he admitted was an inappropriately close relationship with News Corporation during its planned takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
Mr Hunt has said he did not know about the extent and tone of the contact between the media giant and Mr Smith.
But under the ministerial code of conduct, Mr Hunt is responsible for the actions of his special advisers - a fact which has fuelled calls for a separate inquiry into his conduct.
Labour had accused the government of sweeping the issue of Mr Hunt's conduct under "the big carpet" of the Leveson inquiry into press ethics.
"Instead of hiding behind Leveson" Mr Cameron should "show his responsibility as PM and make sure the ministerial code is imposed," Labour leader Ed Miliband said.
Mr Hunt said on Friday he would make his emails available to the Leveson Inquiry and he was "confident they will vindicate the position that I handled the BSkyB merger process with total integrity".
Quasi-judicialThere have been growing calls for the prime minister's independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Alex Allan, to investigate whether there has been any breach of the ministerial code after details of the contact between Mr Smith and News Corp emerged in a series of emails seen by the Leveson Inquiry.
But the Conservative MP Mark Field says Sir Alex would not be regarded as independent if he investigated the matter, and suggested the role should be scrapped altogether.
"My concern is that if this whole process was triggered, you would then have the cross-current of this going on at the same time as Leveson and then a whole lot of journalists at the end of it would turn around and say 'well, that wasn't independent either because it was the prime minister who determined it.'"
Leading Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin has called for such a move, saying it was extraordinary that a special adviser should have anything to do with a secretary of state's quasi-judicial role in a matter such as a takeover bid.
The culture secretary should refer the case himself to the watchdog, Lib Dem MP Lorely Burt said, adding that Mr Cameron should not have "put him in the position" of having to adjudicate on the bid given his colleague's previously supportive comments about News Corporation.
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