A COUNCIL leader has apologised after she was caught at a council meeting telling a colleague to imagine a fellow councillor naked.

Cllr Linda Cowling, leader of Ryedale District Council, said she was trying to help calm a nervous colleague - and had been following the advice of Winston Churchill.

In the exchange, included in a recording of the meeting, one woman said: "Just imagine him with no clothes on," and another female voice replied: "Oh God, I would rather not."

The exchange happened as councillors were casting votes. One of the women then evidently noticed the microphones may have caught their conversation and said: "Oh, it's flashing everything, wait a moment."

The male council official was then recorded saying: "That's carried unanimously."

The recording on the council's own website has since been removed.

York Press: Councillor Linda Cowling

Cllr Cowling, above, issued a statement about the incident after the authority initially refused to reveal who had been behind the comments and after numerous colleagues, who all declined to be named, said they had recognised the voice of Cllr Cowling and that of Councillor Janet Frank responding to the comment.

The other councillors had 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 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."

Initial reports suggested the subject of the comments was Cllr Eric Hope, but Cllr Cowling said: "I was not referring to Councillor Eric Hope.

"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."

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

York Press:

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.”