It is an activity regarded by many as at best mildly eccentric if not downright odd, prompting barely suppressed giggles among those who might, so to speak, witness it in the flesh.

What it is certainly not known for is bitter political infighting at the highest level prompted by accusations of wasteful spending and nepotism.

But the world of naturism has been split from top to bottom in a bitter dispute which has led to one of its most senior figures being deposed.

Now Britain’s official naturism body has demanded that Sieglinde Ivo immediately step down from her post as president of the International Naturism Federation (INF), in a letter drafted by lawyers and seen by The Sunday Telegraph.

The row has led to suggestions that British Naturism could pull out of the INF along with other countries opposed to Mrs Ivo, a middle aged Austrian naturist elected to the job in 2008.

Divisions began to appear in naturism’s international organisation after Mrs Ivo was accused of not doing enough to promote the benefits of naturism and failing to extol its virtues to the wider public.

Worse still, she was accused of spending more than £80,000 move INF’s offices from its longstanding headquarters in Belgium to an office close to her home in the small Austrian town of Horsching, and staffing it with members of her own family.