FURIOUS Hampshire MP Chris Huhne went head to head with the Prime Minister in a row over voting reform during a meeting of the Cabinet.

The angry Eastleigh Liberal Democrat challenged David Cameron over the tactics used by No to AV campaign in the run up to Thursday's referendum on changing the polling system.

But he was slapped down by Chancellor George Osborne who told him it was not appropriate to behave in such a way during the weekly meeting of the country's most senior ministers.

Liberal Democrat aides said: "Chris was raising something that Liberal Democrats throughout the party feel very strongly about - the tactics used by the 'no' campaign and was pointing out that the campaign was being bankrolled by the Tories.

"In my view that is perfectly appropriate." Asked if Mr Clegg had been pre-warned, he said: "What happened, happened."

Voters will decide on Thursday whether to scrap first past the post in favour of the Alternative Vote, which would allow constituents to rank voters in order of preference.

The flare up follows increasing tensions between the coalition parties - which are at loggerheads on the issue - with Mr Huhne one of the most outspoken critics about the way the No campaign has been run.

Mr Huhne, who has threatened Tory cabinet colleagues with legal action over campaign "untruths", made the comment after Mr Cameron refused to criticise the No to AV campaign, which has infuriated his Lib Dem colleagues by targeting Mr Clegg personally, in the hours before the meeting.

But the Lib Dem Energy Secretary has also been criticised during the campaign for likening cabinet colleague Baroness Warsi to a Nazi propaganda chief - have become intense.

A Number 10 spokeswoman confirmed that AV "was raised in the context of parliamentary business" at the start of the meeting but would not be drawn on whether that was considered appropriate.