LABOUR has appointed a "people's peer" to chair an inquiry into the resignations of six of its Blackburn councillors.

Regional party bosses said Lord Victor Adebowale was approached on a personal basis by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Racial Equality Council.

It is believed the cross-bench peer has already interviewed several local Labour party members who are seen as key figures in the events that preceded the resignations.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw, who met with the six shortly before they helped vote Labour back into power, is understood to have been approached.

The Labour councillors walked away from the party days after last month's local elections. An inquiry was launched after the six, who have since formed their own independent group at Blackburn with Darwen Council, claimed they were bullied and blamed for the loss of former leader Sir Bill Taylor's Audley seat.

The Blackburn Labour group has always denied this.

Lord Adebowale began his career in local authority estate management before joining the housing association movement.

In 2000, he was awarded the CBE in the New Year's honours list for services to the New Deal, the unemployed, and homeless young people. In 2001, he became one of the first group of people to be appointed to the House of Lords as "people's peers".

A spokesman at Labour's North West offices said the party had still not decided if the inquiry findings would be made public, despite calls from Sir Bill and Councillor Yusuf Jan-Virmani, leader of the new independent group.

Councillor Colin Rigby, leader of the Conservative group at Blackburn with Darwen Council, added his voice to the call for the findings to be revealed.

Coun Rigby almost formed a three-way coalition with the six to snatch power away from Labour. He said: "Let's have a public meeting so we can get it out in the open. I think the whole thing was a complete and utter stitch up. They had to rely on Jack Straw to sort it out, which shows the incompetence of the local Labour group."