The undeclared Liberal leadership battle went another round yesterday with Jean Chretien yanking a plum job away from a Paul Martin supporter.

Liberal MP Marlene Catterall, Chretien's chief disciplinarian, descended on the finance committee telling both Liberal and opposition MPs to vote for London-West MP Sue Barnes over Etobicoke North MP Roy Cullen as their next chairman.

Some Liberals see this as the latest chapter in the underground leadership race to replace Chretien while others portrayed it as a power play by the PM to assert control over his increasingly restless caucus.

Sources told Sun Media Catterall threatened B.C. Liberal Sophia Leung with losing her $13,400 bonus for being a parliamentary secretary if she failed to toe the line and vote for Barnes.

Although Leung later denied to reporters she was threatened, sources said Leung told them that's precisely what happened.

'OUT TO THE WOODSHED'

"Marlene took Sophie out to the woodshed for quite a while and reminded her what was at stake," said a source.

Cullen, a strong Martin supporter, conceded he may not have been the PM's first choice for this job because he's recently criticized Chretien's interference in the Liberal membership furore.

Although Barnes is also supportive of Martin, sources say she can still be controlled by the PMO.

And in a bizarre twist to this story, Tory MP Scott Brison and NDP MP Lorne Nystrom said Catterall even went so far as to warn them she would personally ensure Cullen was dumped from the committee if they successfully helped elect him.

Brison said the PM's Liberals are showing a "near toxic level of arrogance" and using ''thuggery" to get their way.

But Catterall denied telling Brison and Nystrom how to vote.