Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has defended his colleague Defence Secretary Liam Fox from what he called a "trial by media".
Fox is under investigation for the nature of his working relationship with close friend Adam Werritty.
Speaking on the BBC's Politics Show on Sunday, Huhne said that the matter should be "properly investigated".
But he also tried to defend Fox from premature judgements. He said:
"One of the things I know from public experience is that you should not go on with trial by media,"
Huhne added that it is possible the cabinet secretary will need more time to investigate the matter.
"If the cabinet secretary needs more time the cabinet secretary will say," he said. "It is absolutely essential that due process took place".
He also revealed that cabinet colleague and transport secretary Philip Hammond had recently received points for speeding, saying: "Actually, apparently Philip has recently broken the speed limit and got some points so I mean I put my hands up, I lost my licence from speeding so I was in a very good position to say that I should assure that obviously we shouldn't do that and we need to maintain the law."