Kingston and Surbiton MP Ed Davey's campaign to become the next leader of the Liberal Democrats was rocked by its second scandal in as many weeks after the party ruled that it potentially misled members.

The ruling was published on the Liberal Democrats' website on Wednesday (August 5) and described how a party returning officer found Davey's campaign had "acted in a way that was likely to mislead members".

A Lib Dem official investigated a complaint made about the campaign's "conduct in its communication with members as to their voting intentions".

In essence, the accusation alleged that Davey's team had refused to tell party members who they were campaigning for during campaign calls.

Specifically, as per the party statement, the accusation suggested that the Kingston and Surbiton MP's campaign:

"...Instructed canvassers not to disclose the identity of the campaign they were actually calling on behalf in calls made on the 11th and 14th of July 2020."

After investigating, the party's investigator deemed this to be a likely breach of regulations insofar as Davey's campaign had likely mislead members during calls made to them last month.

"The Returning Officer has considered this matter carefully and has taken representations from the Campaign.

"The Returning Officer has found that the campaign, in so doing, acted in a way that was likely to mislead members," the statement continued.

Davey is currently running for the leadership against Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran.

In response to the ruling of August 5, the Lib Dems ordered the Davey campaign to erase all the data they had gathered from the calls in question, and have since "received confirmation that has been done".

It is unclear who within the campaign was responsible for the decision to not disclose the callers' identity.

The scandal follows on the heels of a previous one associated with Davey's campaign to become the Lib Dem's next leader that broke on July 23.

In that instance, the Lib Dems found that Davey's 2020 campaign for the leadership had been using data from his failed 2019 bid to take charge of the Lib Dems.

On July 23, a Lib Dem spokesperson said:

"The party’s advice concludes that a technical breach has occurred in relation to specific consents.

"We have advised the campaign of the issues, and have required the campaign to cease using the affected data now and to gain new consents before using it again."

The Surrey Comet contacted the Ed Davey leadership campaign for comment.