Tony Blair yesterday accused Iain Duncan Smith of following a secret agenda to pull Britain out of Europe.

Responding to taunts from the Conservative leader over Peter Mandelson's comments on the euro, the prime minister said: "The true agenda of himself and many on his benches is to get this country out of the EU.

"That would be a disaster for Britain, British jobs, British industry, [and] British influence."

Today's Independent reports that Gordon Brown has turned down a deal under which Blair would stand down as prime minister in return for the chancellor giving the go-ahead for a euro referendum.

One Blair ally told the paper: "Gordon was offered the keys to Number 10. He turned them down. The problem is not that Gordon is against the euro, it is that he wants to do it as prime minister."

A Brown supporter said the prime minister's offer was in the chancellor's mind when he said on Sunday: "I would never make some sort of private arrangement when the national economic interest is at stake."

Writing in the Independent today, former foreign secretary Robin Cook criticises the government's "paralysis" on the single currency and says the policy is "a recipe for inaction".