A SRI Lankan Labour activist claims a Conservative councillor mocked her accent as she tried to ask a question during a residents' meeting.

Nagus Narunthira, a science teacher at Mill Hill County High School, says she was “shocked and offended” following the remarks by Councillor John Hart at last Tuesday's meeting.

She said she had been asking a follow-up question at the Hendon Residents' Forum when Cllr Hart started mimicking her accent.

She told the Times Series: “I was trying to ask a question and he just started talking in an Asian accent. When I asked him if he was mocking my accent, he said he was, and when I asked if he was being racist he said. 'yes'.

“I was so shocked. Then I think he realised what he had said and started saying it was a joke and he was 'being a linguist'.

“I don't think it's acceptable in this day and age for someone to behave like that. In 27 years of living in Hendon, I haven't come across someone behaving like this. It's the first time I felt like I belonged to a different race.”

However, Cllr Hart insisted he had just been “making a joke” and denied any racist intent.

He said: “I was just trying to be friendly, it was a joke and if she's taken it amiss then so be it.”