Cameron’s court challenge to Salmond

The extraordinary offer was made last month when the Prime Minister and the First Minister were at the All-England Club for the Wimbledon final between Andy Murray and Roger Federer and shared a brief conversation.

At a Downing Street reception last week, Cameron revealed he told Salmond that he would like to use his on-court skills to save the Union. “When I was at Wimbledon watching Andy Murray I actually challenged Alex Salmond to a game of tennis to settle the issue once and for all,” the Prime Minister said. “He [Salmond] didn’t seem very keen on the idea for some reason.”

Eton-educated Cameron was in his school and university teams and has beaten a host of political colleagues in his favourite sport, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London.

But a spokesman for Salmond said the Prime Minister may come up against a stiffer challenge than he thinks if he wants to decide the independence question in a tennis match.

He said: “The First Minister won a school tennis tournament in his youth, and David Cameron would find him tougher competition than Nick Clegg – then again, anyone would be harder to beat than Nick Clegg.”

But he added: “The question is whether Mr Cameron would be prepared to meet the First Minister on the golf course.”