A council boss faces growing rebellion against his leadership from within his own party.

Ken Bodfish, who has led Brighton and Hove City Council since 2000, has lost the confidence of at least four Labour colleagues. Several more want him to step down before the next local elections in 2007.

Coun Bodfish, who lost a vote of confidence over his handling of a key housing vote earlier this year, is accused of cosying up to the Blair Government and bouncing his party into controversial decisions without proper consultation.

This week, councillors' discontent erupted in the national media when Labour members expressed their anger at being rushed into a consultation on the city's first academy school.

Coun Bodfish responded angrily by firing off an email demanding colleagues stop fighting national political battles at a local level.

His pleas for unity are unlikely to be heeded. A group of rebels recently met to discuss their hopes for a post-Bodfish Labour council.

Councillors told The Argus momentum was growing for a change at the top. Several are still angry at the way a decision on the future of the city's 16,000 council homes was pulled from the agenda of a council meeting in January.

Two councillors who resigned from their posts as committee chairmen over the incident suspect it was done to appease the Government.

The move resulted in the council agreeing to surrender its stock to a housing association, subject to the agreement of tenants.

Coun Jack Hazelgrove, who is standing down at the next election, said: "The events around the housing vote destroyed my confidence in Ken as leader and I feel he should have stepped aside. My position remains. A new leader might freshen up the administration."

Councillor Kevin Allen, who called for Coun Bodfish to step down over the housing vote in January, said: "Nothing has changed my mind. He should be taking charge of events but he is too semi-detached and erratic. Labour needs a new leader before the election."

Another senior Labour councillor said: "He's been leader for five years and people get itchy for a change. There is a lot of anger out there. The manner in which certain policy decisions have been taken have upset a number of people in the group."

A fourth Labour member said: "He hardly makes a contribution at council meetings. Rather than leading the city he is quite happy to go along with what Blair comes up with."

Coun Bodfish told The Argus he had no plans to step down. He said: "People are expressing discomfort, disquiet and desperation about national policy and transferring it to local issues.

"Those who are dissatisfied are permanently dissatisfied. When you are in difficult times faint hearts always turn inwards and fail to confront the issues. Of course there are people stirring it up. But I'm very proud of what we have done. We have made a great success of the city as a Labour-led minority administration."