Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed David Cameron was a “very successful prime minister” whose austerity agenda “succeeded”.
The former Tory PM has been engulfed in scandal after it emerged he had been lobbying ministers on behalf of finance firm Greensill Capital.
There are now seven separate inquiries being conducted into links between government ministers, civil service officials and the private sector.
Asked about the row in the Commons on Thursday, Rees-Mogg defended Cameron.
“I think it’s a mistake to rush to judgment, particularly in relation to David Cameron who was a very successful prime minister who succeeded in getting the nation’s finances back in order,” he said.
“And rushing to judgment is I think not a proper way for this House to operate. We need to have the reviews and consider them and that is what is happening.”
The key plank of Cameron’s first government, formed after the 2010 election, was cuts to public services.
The Commons Treasury committee is set to investigate the collapse of Greensill Capital and the way chancellor Rishi Sunak responded to lobbying for the firm by Cameron.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has said the scandal shows the return of “Tory sleaze”.
Another inquiry will be launched by the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Its chairman, Tory MP William Wragg, described Cameron’s lobbying for the collapsed firm as “tasteless, slapdash and unbecoming”.
The civil service was also caught up in the row after it emerged former head of government procurement, Bill Crothers, had worked for Greensill while still employed in Whitehall.
Boris Johnson admitted it is not clear whether the “boundaries” between Whitehall and business have been “properly understood”.
But he ordered Tory MPs to vote down a Labour plan for wider parliamentary investigation into lobbying