Mike Veale, 57, previously faced criticism while in charge of Wiltshire Police's inquiry into sexual allegations against the late prime minister, which cost £1.5m and lasted two years.

He left his role as chief constable in Wiltshire to take up the same post at Cleveland Police but stood down from the force in January 2019.

Mr Veale denies the allegations against him at a week-long police disciplinary hearing in Middlesbrough, where a panel could recommend he is barred from working with the police again if a gross misconduct allegation is proven.

Cleveland's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is bringing the case, which follows an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Outlining the allegations, Dijen Basu KC, for the PCC, said Mr Veale was in a car with a female colleague, referred to as witness B, on their way to visit the chief executive of Stockton Borough Council in November 2018.

Mr Veale allegedly read out a complimentary email he had received from a local councillor, looked at his colleague's lap and said: "Go on, you can touch yourself now," Mr Basu said.

The former police chief is also alleged to have inappropriately commented in front of other officers that the woman and a male senior officer were "bedfellows" during a visit to Norfolk Constabulary HQ the following month.

Mr Basu said he referred to witnesses B and C as "bedfellows, metaphorically speaking or otherwise" and "laughed".

The comments allegedly amounted to a breach of professional standards.

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Mr Basu said Mr Veale denies the allegations and said he did not glance at witness B's lap in the car.

The barrister said Mr Veale's explanation was that "he read out an email which was complimentary of him, and was making a joke about the fact she could pinch herself at being in the presence of such a well-regarded chief constable".

Mr Veale did not dispute using the word "bedfellows" but will claim he said it without innuendo, Mr Basu said.

The panel's chairwoman, Sara Fenoughty, agreed to an application by witness B for her evidence to be given in private, away from the press and public.

She confirmed this was not a condition sought by the PCC or Mr Veale.

In a notice published before the hearing, the PCC's office said Mr Veale had made "unwanted remarks of a sexual nature", and that this conduct amounted to "breaches of the Standards of Professional Behaviour".

The hearing continues.