“It shows that I was arrested for political reasons simply because my views on the countryside were not appreciated.”

Mr Page, chairman of the Countryside Restoration Trust, said he made the comment “tongue-in-cheek” at a country fair in Frampton-upon-Severn, Gloucestershire, to get listeners’ attention. No one objected at the time but a letter of complaint was later received by police, and another person wrote to say he disagreed with the remarks. 

Mr Page, from Cambridgeshire, was taken to a police station where he declined to answer questions without a lawyer and was arrested. He was allegedly put in a cell and told that he would have to stay overnight if he wished to wait for his solicitor –  but after 40 minutes he agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer. 

Mr Page said: “I was told I had committed a ‘hate crime’, interviewed under caution and given police bail.’’ 

He felt the arrest was potentially damaging to him professionally – and as a district councillor for 30 years. Yet no charges were ever brought. “It was absolutely outrageous,” he said.

As well as finding out that the Attorney General had said “no crime committed”, Mr Page also saw documents revealing that his name had been put on a Homophobic Incidents Register.

He said he also found an internal email sent by police after he requested a change of bail renewal date to allow him to go on a journalistic trip to Kenya.

A sergeant allegedly wrote: “Let’s hope he gets eaten by a crocodile.”

Mr Page said: “I would have pushed for more money from the police but I recently had prostate surgery. I just wanted the whole saga over with.

“Annoyingly, the police sent my cheque in an unstamped envelope. I had to go to my local post office and pay £1.24 to pick it up. 

“I’m not all that convinced it was a mistake.”

Gloucestershire Police spokeswoman Hannah Swingler said: “Our insurers made an offer to Mr Page for a relatively small amount, which was accepted, and we feel this is appropriate in the circumstances.”