POLITICS: Parliamentary standard commissioner Kathryn Hudson will probe Business Secretary Vince Cable over whether a poll undermining Nick Clegg’s Lib Dem leadership should have been declared as a gift, she announced yesterday.

Mr Cable’s close friend Lord Oakeshott commissioned research into the Liberal Democrats’ prospects in a series of key constituencies.

The findings — which suggested seats could be lost unless there was a change of leader — were then leaked in the wake of dire local and European election results last month.