Suella Braverman is a “first-rate” minister who is “absolutely” a politician of integrity, Michael Gove has said.
Rishi Sunak is resisting demands to launch an inquiry into the home secretary breaking security rules.
Braverman shared a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission.
She resigned from Liz Truss’ government over the revelation but Sunak reappointed her when he took over as prime minister last week.
Seeking to defend Braverman, Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “Suella is a first-rate, front-rank politician.
“She’s a valued member of the cabinet and someone whom I admire and like.”
In a separate interview with the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Gove was asked if Braverman was a politician of integrity. “Absolutely,” he said.
“Suella deserves a second chance,” Gove added. “Suella coming back into office was the right thing.”
Questions have also been raised about the home secretary’s account that she immediately reported her mistake.
It was further cast into doubt by the emergence of an email from her personal account - seen by the BBC - in which she asked the recipient of a message sent in error to “ignore and delete”.
Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, told the same programme that Braverman should be replaced.
“You can’t have a home secretary who is not trusted by the security service, who is not trusted with important government information,” she said.
“It really shows the huge error of judgment that Rishi Sunak has made in reappointing someone just six days after she broke the ministerial code over security lapses.”
Braverman – who has been dubbed in “Leaky Sue” in Westminster – was reportedly also previously investigated by government officials after the leaking of a story involving the security services.
The Daily Mail reported that MI5 played a role in the inquiry after the leak at the time Braverman was attorney general sparked “concern” in the security service.
Braverman is also under fire over allegations that she ignored advice that migrants were being detained for unlawfully long periods at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent, claims the Home Office dismissed as “completely baseless”.
The Sunday Times reported that she failed to act on warnings that some asylum seekers held at Manston, which is meant to be a short-term holding facility, for weeks urgently needed to be rehoused.