Nick Clegg refuses to back Jeremy Hunt as Lib Dems demand investigation Jeremy Hunt leaves the high court after giving evidence at the Leveson inquiry. Senior Lib Dems want a new inquiry into the BSkyB affair. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has refused to give unequivocal backing to Jeremy Hunt over his handling of the BSkyB takeover controversy as senior Liberal Democrats broke ranks to demand a new investigation into whether the culture secretary has broken the ministerial code. Hunt's chances of surviving in the cabinet appeared to have been boosted last week when David Cameron declared minutes after Hunt finished giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry that he would not order a further inquiry. But that attempt to end the row looks like backfiring, with Lib Dem MPs and peers joining Labour to insist that Hunt is referred to the official adviser on the ministerial code, Sir Alex Allan. Labour will call a Commons vote on whether Hunt should be investigated, claiming he misled parliament about his role in News Corp's bid for BSkyB and failed to keep his adviser Adam Smith, who quit over his contacts with Murdoch executives, under control. A Lib Dem spokesman refused to say whether Clegg would order his MPs to back Cameron. "No decision has been taken," he said. A move by Clegg to defy Cameron and call for further investigation would threaten a serious rift between the prime minister and his deputy. The Commons vote is expected soon after parliament returns. Pressure on Clegg to take on Cameron was applied by several Lib Dems, including the party's representative on the culture, media and sport select committee, Adrian Sanders. Sanders said he thought the case should "definitely" be referred for investigation. "The public will accept the verdict from the person who is supposed to investigate these issues far more readily that it will the verdict of the prime minister," he added. What is the point of having an adviser on the ministerial code if you never use him? Lorely Burt, the Lib Dem MP for Solihull, said Hunt should have offered himself up for investigation. I thought he should have referred himself, quite honestly, but he has lost that opportunity. Other senior Lib Dems said they were "astonished" that the prime minister had not referred Hunt to Allan. Lord Oakeshott, the party's former Treasury spokesman in the Lords, questioned how Cameron could have decided Hunt was in the clear less than half an hour after the culture secretary finished giving evidence to Lord Leveson: "How could he possibly have cleared him only 25 minutes after the hearing ended?" Oakeshott said it appeared to be an "utterly cynical carve-up in advance which no Lib Dem could conceivably condone." It is highly unusual for MPs from a governing party to back an opposition motion. But there is support within the Lib Dems for the idea of the party's own amendment, which would centre on the specific allegation that Hunt misled parliament when he claimed in a statement in April to have published all his communications with News Corp and the Murdochs. On Friday, the all-party public administration select committee said Allan should not have to wait for a minister to be referred to him before an investigation could be launched. Harriet Harman, the shadow culture secretary and Labour's deputy leader, suggested the speaker John Bercow might want to recall Hunt to parliament to address the concerns of MPs who believe he may have misled them. "Any speaker would be dismayed to find the House confronted with a situation where the secretary of state has misled the House and the prime minister condones that by failing to take any action," she said.