Ally of Vince Cable behind bid to topple Clegg

A leading ally of a British Liberal Democrat minister has been outed as the one who paid for an opinion poll whick predicted that the party's leader, the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, would lose his House of Commons seat.

The disclosure that multimillionaire Matthew Oakeshott had paid for the ICM poll which was leaked to the Guardian.

The poll reported Mr Clegg would lose his seat in Sheffield by 33 points to 23 to Labour down from the 53 per cent of the vote he took in 2010. Meanwhile, seats in Cambridge, Redcar and in the West Country would also go.

Now, however, business secretary Vince Cable has had to distance himself from ally Lord Oakeshott following party fury after Mr Oakeshott’s role in the polling was revealed.

“His actions are totally inexcusable and unacceptable. I have made it very clear repeatedly that he does not speak or act for me,” said Mr Cable, a likely favourite to take over if Mr Clegg was to stand down.

“Commissioning and publishing polls without the consent of the MP, as in the case of Sheffield Hallam, is utterly reprehensible,” he said, adding that “public speculation” about the leadership is “an unwelcome distraction”.

Meanwhile, party stalwart Baroness Shirley Williams said Ukip won just one-in-10 voters, not a majority, and they were motivated by anger towards politicians of all hues.