A FURIOUS war of words has broken out between Bolton Council's Labour leader and his deputy over the idea of giving Bolton a new name.

Labour chief Cllr Bob Howarth delivered a stinging rebuke to Cllr Guy Harkin for speaking publicly about his proposals to change the name from Bolton to Bolton-le-Moors.

Bolton, or Bolton-le-Moors: The Great Debate

He said: "This is my area of responsibility and Cllr Harkin had better start discussing his ideas through the proper channels."

Cllr Harkin launched an immediate counter attack by accusing his leader of over reacting.

Opposition councillors described the row as "open warfare", predicting it could mark the end of the 20-year political partnership between the two party leaders.

Many also believe that both face a tough battle to retain their council seats at next June's election -- and that whoever is left standing will take the top job.

Cllr Howarth blamed Cllr Harkin for the adverse public reaction to the idea of changing the name of the borough. He claimed other council chiefs knew nothing of Cllr Harkin's name-change plans.

He said: "I speak for the Labour Party and the Labour executive and I have reminded Cllr Harkin that there is a proper way of doing things."

But Cllr Harkin claimed the leader had acted inappropriately on another issue by overruling both the executive committee and culture chiefs in banning an anti-war group from using a library meeting room at the height of the Iraq conflict.

Cllr Hankin said: "Bob should look at his own behaviour before he starts pointing the finger at others.

"He has over-reacted to an enormous degree because I simply discussed an idea I had raised in a brainstorming session."

On the issue of the anti-war group, Cllr Harkin added that Labour councillors had drawn-up a counter motion to prevent the library meeting room ban -- but pulled out fearing it would damage the party's image.

"Many of us had grave misgivings with Bob's actions which were seen as interfering with free speech," he said.

Leading Conservative Cllr John Walsh believes a power struggle at the top of the Labour party has been raging for sometime.

Cllr David Wilkinson, of the Liberal Democrats, said: "It is open warfare. We have known for some time they have disagreements and this just shows how fragile Labour's unity is."

Cllr Harkin proposed that Bolton's name be changed to Bolton-le-Moors in a bid to rid the town of its image of cloth caps, smoking chimneys and whippets.

He is hoping to rally enough support among fellow councillors to win approval for the name change. He is also referring the idea to the Bolton 2000 organisation, a consultation body consisting of 2,500 people.

The Privy Council would then be given the final say.