ALEX Salmond has been ticked off for being "sexist" and using "derogatory language" after telling Anna Soubry, the Treasury Minister, to "behave yourself, woman!"

The remarks were made during an animated parliamentary debate on the formation of Commons committees, when the SNP MP for Gordon was explaining why membership of the Health Committee was necessary for the Nationalists as money spent on the NHS in England had a knock-on effect on that spent in Scotland.

When Ms Soubry urged the ex-First Minister to "move on" to a different subject, Mr Salmond looked quizzically at her and replied: "Move on where? Luckily the Right Honourable Lady is on the front bench, so will not be standing to be a Chair of one of these select committees, otherwise she would have done her chances no good whatever.

"Members on the Treasury Bench should behave better in these debates. She should be setting an example to her new Members, not cavorting about like some demented junior Minister. Behave yourself, woman!"

Following the debate, Ms Soubry said: "Alex Salmond seems to think women are to be seen but not heard. This kind of attitude belongs firmly in the 19th century. Salmond can dish it out but it appears he can't take it."

Her Tory colleague, Sarah Wollaston, added: "It's totally inappropriate in this day and age to say that to a female colleague. It is sexist. This Parliament is now nearly a third women and it's time for this derogatory language to stop."

In 2011, David Cameron was accused of sexist behaviour when he urged Angela Eagle, the then Shadow Treasury Minister, to "calm down dear". No 10 sought to play down the row, saying the Prime Minister's expression was "just a humorous remark".

Ms Eagle responded at the time by saying: "I have been patronised by better people than the Prime Minister...It is for him to decide whether he expressed himself appropriately in the Commons. It is up to him as to whether he wants to annoy 51 per cent of the population."

The spat between Mr Salmond and Ms Soubry was not the first. In March, the two politicians clashed on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show when the leading Conservative described the ex-FM's earlier interview as "one of the scariest I've heard for a very long time". She said the notion that the SNP would be the controlling influence in a Labour-SNP alliance was "absolutely terrifying".

Mr Salmond hit back, saying that Ms Soubry and the Conservatives had campaigned to keep the SNP in the House of Commons but were complaining that the Nationalists were going "to have too many seats".