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Well into Rob Ford’s tumultuous reign as mayor of Toronto, he and his staff had an unusual problem: Rob’s brother, Doug.

Seeing himself more as co-mayor than the first-term city councillor that he was, Doug Ford would ensconce himself in the chief magistrate’s office when his brother was out and hold official meetings, recalled Mark Towhey, the late mayor’s former chief of staff.

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“Rob was livid about this,” Towhey wrote in his 2015 book on the Ford saga, Uncontrollable.

“Rob’s (executive assistant) would physically try to bar Doug from entering the mayor’s office. But Doug would barge right past him. We started locking the door. Then Doug got a key. From Rob. Who would then complain when Doug used it. It was nuts.”

Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

The episode underscored the politician-brothers’ unorthodox relationship — and Doug’s integral part in the 2010-2014 Ford administration at Toronto City Hall, now among the foremost credentials he cites in his bid to become Ontario’s next premier as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.