A Wigan councillor found guilty of using his taxpayer-funded phone to rack up a £2,500 chatline bill faced growing calls to quit yesterday.

Greater Manchester MP Andy Burnham added his name to a public petition demanding the head of independent Robert Bleakley, who was caught out when officials highlighted hundreds of pounds worth of suspicious calls on his phone records.

An investigation later revealed that he had branded women “idiots” in text messages from the phone, with one text saying: “No wonder women are just cooking and washing material.”