Communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, was forced to delay her announcement on the shortlist of unitary councils because of a Cabinet row with David Miliband.
The environment secretary, who began the debate on unitary councils when he was local government minister, is believed to have been against Ms Kelly's plan to put 16 bids on the shortlist, and tried to have several removed.
Mr Miliband, who is widely tipped as a future prime minister and is being encouraged to stand against Gordon Brown in the Labour leadership election, is thought to have objected to competing bids for unitary counties and districts – as has happened in Bedfordshire, Northumberland and Cheshire.
A Whitehall insider said Mr Miliband was keen to avoid the political bloodbath which opposing bids were likely to create but his efforts to get some of the bids removed from the shortlist caused major delays, and the announcement was repeatedly pushed back.
The list was eventually published on Tuesday 27 March, and councils in several parts of the country have already gone on the offensive against the proposals.
Fears of 12 weeks of bitter dispute are already being borne out. District councils in Somerset have called for a referendum on the county council's plans for unitary status and Devon CC has called on the Audit Commission to investigate Exeter City Council's unitary bid.
The county council wants the Audit Commission to examine Exeter's business case, which puts the cost of setting up as a unitary at £6.5m.
Devon CC claims that the bill will be at least £20m, with no prospect of that being recouped through future savings. Said Exeter City Council leader, Roy Slack: ‘The facts of the matter are the transition costs will be £6.5m, which can be repaid over five years, and will produce £12m a year in savings to reinvest in services and keep a low council tax, something on which the city council had a great track record, when the county council's is lamentable.' 
Continuing uncertainty over local government reorganisation has prompted South Lakeland DC to appoint an interim chief executive. Peter Ridgway, who is currently director of customer services, will take up the new role when the current chief executive, Mike Jones, retires at the end of June. Councillors agreed last week to review the appointment again, when the future is more certain.

localgov.co.uk briefing: