In a departure from normal campaign etiquette, a Conservative candidate in north Devon described the women in his prospective constituency as "notoriously hideous".

Orlando Fraser, a single barrister, did not know that his conversation with the wife of a billionaire at a society lunch in Florida was being overheard by a journalist from The New York Times.

The comment was reported yesterday on the front page of the North Devon Journal.

Anne-Marie Bloomfield, who runs a local beauty salon, responded: "He does not look too fantastic himself and it sounds as if he could do with a personality transplant."