A COUNCIL leader has denied making a sexist remark about a fellow member during a meeting of the authority after claiming she had been following the advice of Winston Churchill.

Councillor Linda Cowling said she had been attempting to calm a nervous colleague when she was heard to tell a colleague "imagine him with no clothes on" at a meeting of Ryedale District Council earlier this month.

She issued a statement about the incident after the authority refused to reveal who had been behind the comments, which were recorded and put on the authority's website before being removed.

The statement followed numerous members of the council, who declined to be named, saying they had recognised the voice of Cllr Cowling and that of Cllr Janet Frank responding to the comment. They said the refusal to name the women involved in the whispered chat was sullying the reputations of other female members.

Cllr Cowling said she had been misquoted and her words had been taken out of context. She also said she had not been referring to Councillor Eric Hope, but did not reveal who she had been referring to.

She said: "Many years ago some of us underwent training on public speaking.

"We were told that if we were very nervous that a trick was to imagine your audience with no clothes on. A tip attributed to Winston Churchill.

"I used that advice to try to calm a colleague, Cllr Frank, who was deputising for the chairman of planning committee who was very nervous about speaking that night.

"I very much regret the incident and apologise for any embarrassment it has caused and I have referred the matter to the council’s monitoring officer."

Councillors claimed Cllr Cowling, who runs a tea shop in Pickering, had been speaking about fellow Cropton ward member Cllr John Clark, a married farmer, who had asked a series of convoluted questions about planning.

One councillor said: “Just imagine if two male councillors had said that about a 25-year-old woman.

“Don’t bother answering her questions, but think what she would look like naked – all hell would break loose."

Cllr Clark, who is also a North Yorkshire County councillor, said: “I was elected to the council to ask awkward questions and that was in our election material in a prominent place.

“I am not to be treated as a sex object, despite my looks and physique.

“I believe the two having the conversation were both unable to answer questions on major issues at that council meeting.

“Both should consider their positions.”