The biggest political names in Birmingham are locked in a bitter battle - over who deserves the best office. Sir Albert Bore is still in a suite reserved for the leader of Birmingham City Council, in the west wing of the Council House, even though he was sacked as Labour council leader by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition on Tuesday. The move has annoyed Mike Whitby, who heads the Conservative group and is the new leader of the council. He is confined to a small office in the Tory group rooms on the east wing of the Council House. Meanwhile, John Hemming, the new Liberal Democrat deputy leader of the council, has failed in an attempt to move from the Council House garret to the more spacious quarters adjoining Sir Albert's office. Coun Hemming (South Yardley) assumed he would inherit the deputy council lead-er's office and would have Coun Whitby as his neighbour but was surprised to discover on Wednesday that it was already occupied by Hugh McCallion, the deputy leader of the Labour group. Coun Hemming's case for a move is complicated by the fact that he wants to bring with him a piano from the Liberal Democrat offices. It is unclear whether the piano would fit into Coun McCallion's office. Emotions in the accommodation row are running so high that council chief executive Lin Homer is attempting to mediate. A meeting between Ms Homer and the party leaders ended after Coun Whitby and Coun Hemming demanded to see plans and paperwork setting out policies by which offices are allocated. Failure to agree on office arrangements is entirely the fault of Coun Hemming, according to Coun McCallion (Lab Kingstanding) who accused the Liberal Democrat leader of "storming into" Sir Albert's office area on Wednesday and telling staff they would have to move out by Friday. Coun McCallion said: "There is no question of us, in any shape or form, being precious about this. We are looking to move out as soon as somewhere sensible can be found. But we are not prepared to be kicked around. "It was not 24 hours after the annual council meeting and John Hemming expected everything to be sorted out. But this is a very sensitive period and we have staff to consider as well." Coun Whitby insisted that Sir Albert would have to move out eventually. He added: "I am looking forward to taking over what are the leader and deputy leader's offices because they are the best locations from which we can sensibly run this city. If anyone disagrees with that, they would be very foolish. "I have spoken to the chief executive and she believes that everything can be sorted out fairly quickly. Coun Hemming said: "This is an utterly trivial matter and something that I don't really want to comment on. I am for more interested in running the council than arguing about office space. "All I can say is that we have been in power for two days and the chief executive still hasn't been able to find me a secretary." The council leader's office, currently occupied by Sir Albert, is next to the Lord Mayor's parlour on the first floor of the Council House. Labour's biggest problem, in a building where virtually all rooms are taken, is finding new accommodation spacious enough to house Sir Albert, Coun McCallion and secretarial staff. A Labour group insider said the row was the talk of the Council House. "Albert is claiming squatter's rights and there appears to be nothing anyone can do about it. We are all just waiting to see what happens next," he added. | 
