A Reform UK mayor is under police investigation for allegedly showing “naked and sexualised” images of himself to a female member of staff.
Luke Campbell, a former Olympic boxing champion and the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, is understood to have been questioned under caution by Humberside police earlier this month.
In an incident first reported by the Observer on Sunday, Campbell allegedly showed a senior female colleague four fully naked and sexualised images of himself in May.
The woman said she had felt “shocked, embarrassed and humiliated” and claimed she had been forced out of her job soon after, according to documents submitted as part of an internal grievance procedure at Hull and East Yorkshire combined authority (Heyca).
Campbell, who was elected last May, has not responded to requests to comment. It is understood that he has not been arrested in relation to the allegations, which Reform UK has said he “firmly denies”.
A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Luke firmly denies the allegations. They come from a disgruntled employee attempting to leverage a settlement in a meritless workplace dispute.”
The allegations against Campbell came to light after a year-long ITV investigation uncovered racist comments from a number of Reform UK councillors and a prospective MP.
An aspiring Reform UK MP was suspended after telling an undercover reporter that Muslims could not be British and asylum seekers crossing the English channel should be put in “concentration camps”, in footage due to be broadcast on Sunday night.
Nigel Farage’s party said it had opened investigations where activists or members had “clearly behaved inappropriately”, adding that there was “no room for racism” in the party.
Nadine Dorries, a former Conservative minister and now a Reform UK member, came to Campbell’s defence on Sunday by claiming that the “sexualised” image was in fact a 2013 magazine cover showing the former boxer posing naked from the waist up after he won gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
However, that appears to be at odds with witness testimony submitted as part of an internal grievance procedure at Heyca, where Campbell is mayor.
In one document, corroborated by the Guardian, a senior female colleague said Campbell had called her over to a computer screen, where she was shown “several naked and sexualised images” of the mayor.
A separate witness said they saw a naked man with a tattoo in one of the images, whereas no tattoo is visible on the magazine front cover.
The main complainant said in a witness statement: “I was deliberately exposed to naked and sexualised images involving the mayor in the workplace, without my consent, and was laughed at when I was visibly embarrassed.
“In my view, this was unwanted conduct of a sexual nature which violated my dignity and created a humiliating, degrading and offensive working environment.”
About three weeks after the alleged incident, the female officer, who was working as a contractor but had accepted the offer of a permanent role, was allegedly told on a Teams call that the offer had been withdrawn.
In a separate document, a second colleague said they had felt “uneasy” after allegedly seeing Campbell and two male colleagues ushering over a female officer to look at his laptop, which showed an image of a naked man with a tattoo.
The Guardian understands that this second employee recalled comments then being made about Campbell’s tattoo and that they saw the mayor lift his shirt to show the tattoo.
A spokesperson for Heyca confirmed to the Observer that a police investigation was under way. He said: “As with all public authorities, the combined authority has a standards process that can be engaged to deal with complaints about members and a complaints procedure that can be used to deal with complaints about officers.
“The standards process and the complaints procedure must be carried out in a fair and independent manner.”
Humberside police has been contacted for comment.
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