Police investigate Hull mayor Luke Campbell over alleged showing of naked images to a staff member
Luke Campbell, the Reform UK mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, is under police investigation over allegations that he showed a female colleague naked, sexualised images of himself. Reform UK says he firmly denies the claims.
Humberside police are investigating Luke Campbell, the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire and a member of the UK right-wing party Reform UK, over allegations that in May he showed a senior female colleague four fully naked and sexualised images of himself. Campbell is a former Olympic boxing champion who won gold at the 2012 London Games. The Observer was first to report the case.
Campbell is understood to have been questioned under caution by police earlier this month. He has not been arrested. Elected last May, he has not responded to requests for comment.
The complaint
In documents submitted as part of an internal grievance procedure at the Hull and East Yorkshire combined authority (Heyca), the woman said she felt shocked, embarrassed and humiliated. She claims she was forced out of her job soon afterwards. According to her statement, the mayor called her to a computer screen and showed her the images, then laughed when she was visibly embarrassed. She described it as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that violated her dignity.
She was working as a contractor and had accepted an offer of a permanent role. About three weeks after the alleged incident, she was reportedly told on a Teams call that the offer had been withdrawn. A separate witness said they saw a naked man with a tattoo in one of the images, while a second colleague said they saw Campbell and two male colleagues ushering a female officer over to a laptop.
Responses
A Reform UK spokesperson said Campbell firmly denies the allegations and described them as coming from a disgruntled employee trying to leverage a settlement in a meritless workplace dispute. Nadine Dorries, a former Conservative minister and now a Reform UK member, claimed the image was a 2013 magazine cover showing the boxer posing naked from the waist up. That appears to conflict with witness accounts, as no tattoo is visible on the cover.
Heyca confirmed that a police investigation is under way and said complaints processes must be carried out fairly and independently.
