Gordon Brown was on Wednesday accused of “losing control” of the Scottish Labour party after Wendy Alexander, the party’s leader north of the border, infuriated the prime minister by calling for an early referendum on independence. Mr Brown telephoned Ms Alexander to tell her to back off, insisting that the party would not take any such decisions until after the conclusion of the Calman review, a study into the operation of Scottish devolution.

The prime minister was outraged that Ms Alexander, once regarded as a close ally, should break with previous policy and back an independence referendum at a time when Labour was already on its knees after last week’s local elections.