Councillor Warburton was an officious critic of Len Fairclough at the Town Hall. In May 1972, Warburton backed a housing committee plan to do up a building in a run-down area, but Len preferred that the money be spent on a series of old people's bungalows. After failing to get Len to change his mind, Warburton took an interest in his opponent. While in Coronation Street to tell Hilda Ogden and Archie Crabtree to take down No.13's front porch which had been built without planning permission, Warburton approached Emily Bishop to ask her if she thought Len's interest in local government was waning. Emily flatly suggested that he asked Len himself instead of snooping.
Warburton's efforts were rewarded when he went to a roadworks site to find Len, who had gone there to see Harry Bates, and witnessed a fight break out between the pair, ending with Len face down in a puddle of muddy water. Warburton submitted a report about Len to Mayor Harold Chapman, resulting in Len being summoned to a meeting with the Mayor. However, Chapman was one of Len's allies at the council and treated him to lunch in the mayoral Rolls and a vote of support in his quest to keep his seat in the local government re-organisation. Dismissive of Warburton, Chapman labelled the odious councillor a "tale-teller".