Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor Luke Campbell is under investigation after allegedly showing a female member of staff images of himself posing nude for a gay magazine 14 years ago.
According to reports first published in The Observer, the Mayor is alleged to have called the woman over to his desk and showed her four “naked and sexualised images”.
She claims she was forced out of her job shortly after the “cyberflashing” incident and has filed a complaint with an employment tribunal, claiming she lost the job because of her “rejection of unwanted sexual conduct”. She said she’d been laughed at when she became “visibly embarrassed” and this created a “humiliating, degrading and offensive working environment”.
Mayor Campbell denies the allegations.
Reports in The Observer claim Mr Campbell was interviewed by Humberside Police under caution earlier this month. No charges or arrests were made.
Reform UK said it was a “baseless complaint” from a disgruntled employee. Mr Campbell posed naked for the magazine Gay Times, to raise money for the Terrence Higgins Trust, shortly after winning gold in boxing at the 2012 London Olympics. A copy had been shown in the office.
A spokesman said: "Luke firmly denies the allegations. They come from a disgruntled employee attempting to leverage a settlement in a meritless workplace dispute."
In a statement to The Observer, Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority said they had a standards process which could be used to deal with complaints about members, which must be carried out in a “fair and independent manner”. Mr Campbell – who was known as “Cool Hand” during his career – was elected as first mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire with 35.8 per cent of the vote last May.
Mr Campbell has faced repeated criticism during his tenure including claims of a “toxic working environment” made by departing staff members just a few months after his election.
Hull’s Lib Dem group said: “Both the Mayor and Reform UK have serious questions to answer - local people and businesses deserve better than their mess.” It follows criticism from Jonathan Evison, Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside and fellow Tory deputy Leo Hammond, who claim devolution has "gone down the wrong path".
They said a board set up to consider the economic interests of the Humber has only met once, attrition rates for staff were high and only £400,000 had been spent from a £6.4m investment fund. HEYCA is advertising again for a new chief executive after failing to find a replacement for interim Alan Menzies.