Public unmoved by bullying claims against Brown

Only 9 per cent of Scottish voters said the allegations – which include claims he shoved aides and pulled a secretary from her chair – would make them less likely to vote Labour in a general election. An equal proportion indicated the claims would make them more likely to support the government.

Disapproval of his reported behaviour was greatest among younger voters, with 14 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds indicating it made them less inclined to back him at the ballot box, compared with 8 per cent of 35- to 54-year-olds and 7 per cent of over-55s.

Some 31 per cent of Scottish voters said the allegations made no difference as they would vote Labour anyway, and 43 per cent said the claims were irrelevant because they would not vote Labour in any situation.

The results were published as a tape emerged of one of the Prime Minister's most senior aides claiming he had been pushed by Mr Brown.

Dr Stewart Wood, a foreign policy adviser in No 10, said the Prime Minister was "routinely rude" and had shoved him aside on a stairwell while saying "Get outta my way".

The account contradicts protestations by Mr Brown that he had never shoved anyone, raising further questions about his temperament.

Yet more extracts from Andrew Rawnsley's incendiary book The End of the Party published yesterday did little to draw a line under the matter, with a former ally of Tony Blair quoted as saying Mr Brown had acted "like a belligerent teenager" after the then prime minister indicated he would not stand down in the wake of the Iraq war in 2004.

Mr Brown was alleged to have shouted and sworn at Mr Blair after he changed his mind about stepping down.