An urgent meeting has been called for a councillor to explain why nude photos were uploaded to his Facebook page.

On Wednesday last week, some pictures showing the lower half of a partially naked man and some of a fully nude man appeared on Harefield councillor Richard Barnes’s profile.

Hillingdon Council leader Ray Puddifoot has now asked his party’s chief whip to meet Mr Barnes to offer him the opportunity to explain.

“It will allow us to consider what further action, if any, is required,” said Mr Puddifoot.

“Our group rules state ‘members shall ensure that their business and private lives does not cause embarrassment to the group or the Conservative Party’.

“We have not heard from Councillor Barnes regarding this matter and the only information we have on the incident in question is what has appeared in the media.”

The 65-year-old councillor, a former Deputy Mayor of London, told the Gazette his Facebook account was hacked. He has since removed the images and says he has ‘nothing more to say’ on the matter.

The pictures appear to have been taken in a mirror using an iPhone’s camera. It has been speculated that the blunder could have been caused by the latest iPhone software, which can automatically upload any pictures taken on the phone directly to Facebook.

Mr Barnes was quoted in the Daily Mail as saying he was only made aware that the pictures had gone up when told by a friend, adding that he would ‘ride the storm’.

The incident occurred just days after Mr Barnes discovered his appeal against his deselection from the Hillingdon Conservatives’ 2014 councillor candidate list was dismissed.

“It was decided some months ago that councillor Barnes would not be reselected as a Conservative council candidate in Hillingdon,” said Mr Puddifoot.

On receiving the news in June, Mr Barnes told the Gazette he was ‘coldly angry’ and called the decision-makers ‘pygmies’.

The Conservative Party’s head office said his appeal, which argued the correct procedure was not followed by Mr Puddifoot, was invalid because the party’s ‘rules’ surrounding the deselection process are guidelines and are not mandatory.

Mr Barnes lost his Ealing and Hillingdon London Assembly seat, and Deputy Mayor position, in 2012, after a shock defeat by Labour candidate Onkar Sahota.

He his yet to confirm what the next steps in his political career will be.