Police are investigating allegations that Luke Campbell, the Reform UK mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, showed a female colleague naked and sexualised images of himself at work, the Guardian reported on 18 October. Campbell strongly denies the allegations through a party spokesperson.
According to the newspaper, a spokesperson for Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority, the regional local government body, confirmed to the Observer that a police investigation was under way. The report does not say that Campbell has been charged with a criminal offence or that the case has been resolved.
Accounts in grievance documents
The Guardian describes documents from an internal grievance procedure in which the woman alleges that Campbell showed her the images without her consent in May. She said she felt embarrassed and humiliated. The newspaper also cites a statement from a second employee, who described seeing an image of a naked man with a tattoo on a laptop.
The complainant further alleges that an offer of permanent employment was withdrawn shortly after the alleged incident. Her account does not, however, establish a link between the two events: the report does not establish that the employment decision was retaliation for a complaint.
Reform UK denies the allegations
A Reform UK spokesperson said Campbell strongly denied the allegations. The party characterised the matter as an employment dispute and accused the complainant of seeking a settlement. That is Reform UK’s position, not an independently established account of the woman’s motives. According to the Guardian, Campbell did not respond directly to the newspaper’s requests for comment.
The nature of the images is also disputed. Nadine Dorries claimed that they involved a magazine cover showing Campbell bare-chested. The newspaper says, however, that this description does not match the accounts contained in the grievance documents.
A spokesperson for the regional authority stressed that grievance procedures must be conducted fairly and independently. The published information gives no outcome for either the police investigation or the internal process. The conduct described remains an allegation, not a finding by a court.
