Labour Councillor and Deputy Council Leader (Northumberland), John Whiteman, who was also a senior member of the local police authority – Convicted and fined in 2002 for soliciting a prostitute in the red light district of Middlesbrough, but is resisting opposition calls to stand down from his local authority.

The court heard Whitman was arrested in his parked car as Police discovered him in a "state of undress" with the prostitute which he had paid £35 for sex with.

Speaking for the first time since his conviction, Councillor John Whiteman, 55 at the time of his trial, says he will continue to serve as a back bench member of Northumberland County Council for the Kitty Brewster ward despite last week being fined £300 for soliciting a prostitute in Middlesbrough.

The married former miner has quit as deputy leader of the county council, given up his post on Northumbria Police Authority and resigned from all other outside bodies in the wake of the scandal.

Members of the ruling Labour group met to discuss Whiteman's position and have decided not to put any pressure on him to stand down. However leading Conservatives have said Mr Whiteman should go.

Last Friday Middlesbrough magistrates heard how Whiteman, a councillor for 15 years who lives with his wife Edna in Solingen Estate in Blyth, was found in his car with a semi-naked prostitute in a well-known red light area after paying her £35.

He admitted soliciting a prostitute and told the court he had resigned all of his positions with the county council and police authority following his arrest.

As deputy leader of the council Whiteman was paid an annual allowance package of £21,887 but this has dropped to £7,613 since he resigned from the post.

Yesterday he said: "I am still a member of the county council and I am not under any pressure from anyone to resign. It is something I have got to discuss with other people but I want to continue serving as a councillor if it is possible. There has been a meeting of the Labour group and they were supportive of me continuing."

Last night Blyth Valley councillor Wayne Daley, vice-chairman of the Conservative Party in the North East, said Whiteman had to resign. "John Whiteman is a leading Labour politician in the region and his behaviour does not warrant him staying in the public arena.

"He no longer has any moral authority and has to go. I think his decision to remain as a councillor is arrogant and shows no respect for his electorate."

Councillor Alex Kerr, deputy leader of the Conservative and Independent group on the county council, said: "Personally, if I found myself in this position I am sure my electorate would expect me to resign as a councillor and I don't think Coun Whiteman should be different."

Council Leader Councillor Michael Davey said: "I believe he has done the right thing by resigning from a number of posts and I don't believe there is pressure for him to stand down as a councillor." adding "It is going to be hard but that is a personal decision."

One Labour councillor, who asked not to be named, said "No-one at Monday's meeting stood up and said he should resign but it is fair to say there is not a lot of sympathy for him in some quarters. Having resigned from the posts he held it follows to some people he should resign as a councillor as well."

A Northumberland County Council spokesman said: "Whiteman has taken appropriate action by resigning his key posts and no further action is required by the authority."

A spokesman for Labour North said: "We have not had any formal complaint about Councillor Whiteman's behaviour and unless we do receive one we will not be investigating the matter."

Disgraced John Whiteman stunned colleagues at Northumberland County Council when he was caught with a prostitute in Middlesbrough.

The 58-year-old, of Solingen Estate, Blyth, immediately resigned as deputy leader of the council and from the police authority after the incident in 2002, but a year later became assistant cabinet member for highways.

Now he is to be deputy member for corporate services, overseeing, among other areas, administration, finance monitoring and public relations - promoting a positive image of the council and county.

The move has stunned political opponents, who believe he should not be holding any public office.

Anne Deif, a member of parents' pressure group Northumberland Education Action Group, said: "I find it astonishing that John Whiteman should hold public office at all but it is totally inappropriate for someone who has been convicted of sex offences to promote a local authority."

Councillor Whiteman was fined £300 by magistrates, but he retained his Kitty Brewster seat by 360 votes in the recent county elections.

Whiteman said today "This is something that happened three and a half years ago and the public have just re-elected me as a councillor. I have been an assistant portfolio holder for highways for a year and now I have moved to corporate services. They have reshuffled portfolios around and I have moved from highways to finance and personnel so I'm moving sideways." he added "There was a rumour going around that I was going to children's services but I am not and I am just carrying on what I have been doing for the last 12 months."

Whiteman defiantly added "I made a mistake and I paid for it and that's it. One mistake in 59 years is not bad. I wonder when they're going to leave me alone."

The council's new leader, Bill Brooks, has defended Mr Whiteman's record. He said: "John has been assistant highways member for two years now and he has served the council very well. His strengths in finance will be very useful in his new role."

"He made a huge mistake three years ago. He knows it was wrong. He has been punished since then and so, unfortunately, have his family."

The cabinet has shrunk from 10 to eight councillors after Labour leaders decided to merge social services with education and health to create children's services and health and wellbeing portfolios.

External resources and the environmental department have merged to become environment and regeneration.

Other cabinet appointments which set to be ratified at the next full council meeting on May 18 include: children's services, Jim Wright; environment and regeneration, Alan Cutter; highways and operations, John Smith; corporate services, Ivan Hayes.