PM's biggest mistake... by his candidate in Glenrothes

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In a fresh embarrassment to the Prime Minister, Lindsay Roy suggested that the party would be in a better position if Mr Brown had not lost his nerve.

Mr Roy's remarks came as the Standard learned that Cabinet colleagues are to urge Mr Brown to overhaul radically his Queen's Speech this November to help to bounce back from a defeat in the Scottish by-election.

Senior figures believe the current list of Bills looks as if it has been "dusted down off a shelf" and some fail to address voters' most pressing concerns.

The Glenrothes by-election, expected on 6 November, is seen by many ministers as a possible trigger point for a Cabinet revolt.

Although Labour held the seat with a majority of more than 10,000 at the last election, the Scottish National Party is in a strong position to take it.

Mr Roy told STV's Politics Now programme last night that he would be disappointed if Mr Brown did not campaign for him.

He said the Prime Minister's "biggest mistake" had been over the 10p tax row.

Asked the second biggest one, he said: "In retrospect - and it's easy with hindsight - it may have been not calling an election over a year ago."

The Tories have dubbed the Prime Minister "Bottler Brown" for failing to do so and many Labour figures believe privately that it was a misjudgment.

The Queen's Speech, with the pre-Budget report, is seen as a key weapon in the autumn fightback against the Conservatives.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears refused to criticise those who had plotted against Mr Brown. "I'm not in the business of condemning people," she told BBC1's Question Time last night.