British Columbia

U.K. report says former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell under investigation for alleged assault

A British newspaper is reporting that Former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is being investigated by Scotland Yard for an alleged sexual assault while he was Canada's High Commissioner to the U.K.

Police will not confirm the investigation is into actions of Canada's former top diplomat

Former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell is named in a British newspaper as the subject of a sexual assault investigation dating back to his time as Canadian high commissioner in London. (Canadian Press)

Former B.C. Premier and former High Commissioner Gordon Campbell is the subject of a sexual assault investigation related to his time as Canada's senior diplomat in the U.K., according to a report in The Telegraph.

The CBC has not been able to independently verify details reported in the British newspaper.

Scotland Yard will only confirm that police in Westminster — in central London — are investigating an allegation of sexual assault that occurred in January 2013. 

"A 54-year-old woman contacted police on 3 January 2019 and alleged she had been sexually assaulted at an address in Grosvenor Square," said Chioma Dijeh, media and communications manager with the Metropolitan Police Service in an email.

No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing, the email said. 

Former prime minister Stephen Harper talks with Gordon Campbell, then Canada's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, during a business roundtable in London in 2013. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Dijeh refused to confirm that Campbell was the subject, saying "the [Metropolitan Police] does not identify any person who may, or may not be, subject to an investigation."

The newspaper quotes a spokesperson for Campbell saying there was an investigation at the time by the government of Canada and the complaint was found to be without merit."

Campbell was hired in October 2018 to probe cost overruns at Manitoba Hydro projects in the province. 

"As a government, we take any report of sexual assault very seriously," said a provincial government spokesperson in an email.

"We have only just now heard about the allegation and will have no further comment at this time."

Campbell was also hired by Doug Ford's government in Ontario in July, 2018 to lead a commission looking into the previous provincial Liberal government's spending and accounting practices.