Leaders now in the firing line

Mr Cowe has responded to the criticism by clearing himself and senior councillors of any blame, placing responsibility instead on officials for ''an internal departmental failure of the most serious kind''.

That only appears to have whetted

the appetite of opposition councillors who sense more mileage in yet

another damaging sleaze scandal in Labour's heartland.

They insist that those in charge of a local authority should accept responsibility for the councillors and officials under their leadership, as would be expected in the private sector.

Certainly Mr McGuigan, who faces calls for his resignation, has taken a strong line on sleaze in the past. Just two months after being elected leader of the new North Lanarkshire Council he declared that the authority would be a ''model Labour council for the rest of Scotland to follow''.

His determination was understandable, following a troubled period for the former Motherwell District Council. But more controversy was to follow the new authority after local government reorganisation, culminating in the current row over the discovery of a #4m hole at the centre of the council's direct labour organisation's (DLO) accounts.

Mr McGuigan graduated into the world of politics in 1984 when he

was elected to the Motherwell District Council's Bellshill North Ward. Previously he studied electronics at Strathclyde University and worked in the field of product/system design and

as a secondary school maths and physics teacher.

He quickly gained a reputation within the district council as an able politician after helping to establish the economic development committee in 1986. He gained a public profile through his battle against closures in the local steel industry and efforts to regenerate the area.

However, he also faced criticism, particularly from SNP members angry at councillors taking trips abroad.

In April 1995 he was elected leader of the controlling Labour group on the shadow North Lanarkshire Council.

Several weeks later the authority found itself embroiled once again in the Monklands corruption scandal, as members from that area sought to secure positions in the new council.

Mr McGuigan adopted a hard line, warning councillors that the alleged nepotism and sectarianism in Monklands would not be tolerated under his leadership. Councillors were later cleared but banned from holding high office.

A series of controversies followed. Days after Labour took control of North Lanarkshire in 1996, councillors were accused of taking a junket to Germany, despite having no twinning link with the town of Scweinefurt.

Then Mr McGuigan came under fire when it was revealed his new office

had been decorated with wallpaper

costing #251 per roll. His suite also featured new leather furniture and an

en-suite bathroom with shower and bidet. Mr Cowe defended the spending levels, but Tory leaders described

them as ''obscene''.

In a difficult first year, the council was also condemned for paying out more than #600,000 a year for coun-

cillor's expenses and criticised for

its handling of the world's worst

E-coli outbreak.

Earlier this year a senior Labour councillor was accused of accessing pornography on the Internet, an episode which led Mr McGuigan to admit he believed he was justified in misleading the press.

Chief executive Mr Cowe has enjoyed a much less fraught period as the most senior official at the council.

Appointed to the North Lanarkshire position during re-organisation, Mr Cowe attracted a salary of more than #90,000 - becoming one of the highest paid officials in the country.

Described by those at the council as able and easy-going, he attracted little attention. However, he did experience some controversy in his previous job

as managing director of Renfrew

District Council.

First, Mr Cowe inherited the long-running Lafferty Construction affair, which had seen a #1m overpayment to the company for an unfinished contract. Mr Cowe was handed the task of investigating the matter and he reported back to councillors in 1990.

But his findings were criticised for failing to go far enough. Critics said he had refused to take disciplinary action against those involved and failed to introduce tough measures to prevent a repeat of the scandal.

A year later, Mr Cowe again

faced criticism for a matter which had begun before he took charge of the local authority.

The council's direct labour organisation window factory in Barrhead suffered a range of problems after it was set up in the late 1980s. A report by private consultants in 1991 found evidence of a huge backlog in council house repair work, costly levels of absenteeism, and inadequate stock storage and control systems.

Also suggested by the consultants was that management were only interested in the more lucrative contract work. The report said difficulties remained with aspects of management and training. It added that the bonus scheme for workers also needed urgent review. A number of members of staff were later disciplined over the affair.

Former colleagues at Renfrew District Council said that, despite the high-profile problems during his leadership, the chief executive was generally well-liked by councillors.

One council source said the problem did not necessarily lie with individuals, but with a system of local government dominated in many areas by one party.

North Lanarkshire was not the first and would not be the last local auth-ority immersed in sleaze.

He said: ''We will be hearing a lot more of this sort of thing in the future - the sky is black with chickens coming home to roost.''