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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has held a secret summit with former prime minister Gordon Brown in ­Scotland.

The men met for talks as part of Corbyn’s ­“preparation for government”, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

The beneath-the-radar ­rendezvous is understood to have taken place in Fife in recent weeks.

A party spokesman said: “We can confirm that Jeremy had a meeting with Gordon Brown.

“It was in person in Scotland and the purpose was part of a process of meeting people and preparing for ­government.”

Former prime minister Brown and Corbyn have ­previously had a frosty ­relationship, and the meeting is a sign of growing unity and confidence within the party.

A source said: “Jeremy can now sense something that seemed impossible a year ago – a Labour government with him as leader.

"He realises that it is a very real prospect, and it could happen very quickly, perhaps before the end of the year given the state of the Tories.

“He is beginning to take on board the huge responsibility that will come with holding the highest office in the land, and while he is his own man with his own ideas, he is happy to take any help and advice he can get.

“He has met up with Gordon to get an insight into the day-to-day pressures, and for tips on how to handle the pace and strain of life in Downing Street.

“The two of them haven’t had the best of relationships in the past, but as Labour has grown in strength, Brown has come to accept that they can win and that Corbyn is the man that the party have chosen to lead the fight.

(Image: PA)

“While there are many things they disagree on, Brown is Labour through and through. He understands that the time for complaining is over, and it is now time to get behind the party and defeat the Tories.

“The pair of them had a good chat and parted on good terms.

“The meeting is a clear sign that Labour are now putting aside their differences and uniting.

It will be ominous for the Tories, who seem more at odds with one another and more ­shambolic every day.”

Brown famously refused to mention his party’s leader by name in a speech before the snap general election

last year.

But after Labour made big gains in the vote called by­ ­Theresa May in June, he has swung behind the left-wing party leader.

In November, he praised his successor’s policy priorities and growing popularity with the public, and called the new leader “a phenomenon”.

He added: “He has come through because he expresses people’s anger at what’s ­happened – the discontent.

“When he attacks universal credit, he is speaking for many people, when he says the health service is ­underfunded, he is speaking for many people.

“People feel rightly or wrongly that the problems that they have – stagnant wages, inequality, polarisation between rich and poor, public service not being properly financed – they ascribe that to the failures of governments, centrist governments that have not been able to manage globalisation.”

Brown couldn’t be reached for ­comment.