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A Conservative MP has criticised the "night of the petticoats" reshuffle that brought several new women into the cabinet last week.
Richard Drax, the Tory member for South Dorset, suggested there was some tokenism in the appointments of Nicky Morgan and Liz Truss, as well as numerous more junior female ministers.
He wrote on his website: "First, I have no problem with women getting top jobs. But, they, like their male counterparts, must get there on merit, and not just because they are women and a quota needs to be filled by 2015. Experience counts, too.
"The learning curve in the Commons is steep and my intake is still learning the ropes. An MP's life is busy enough, but a minister's even more so. Perhaps it would be wiser to tackle the shallow end first, before venturing out of your depth."
Cameron's promotion of a younger generation, while sacking a raft of older men, has annoyed a number of Conservative backbenchers. However, the most public criticism came from Helen Goodman, a shadow Labour media minister, who apologised after tweeting they were "puppets who'll change nothing and their appearance really is most interesting thing about them".
There was also an outcry over the Daily Mail's coverage after it focused on the new ministers' hair, shoes, legs, make-up and outfits, rather than their views or qualifications.
However, Esther McVey, who won the right to attend cabinet as an employment minister, brushed off the Daily Mail's comments about what it called the "Downing Street catwalk", saying she was just glad that powerful women were appearing on the front pages.
The reshuffle is continuing to cause tensions and controversy in Westminster, a week after Cameron demoted and sacked several people supported by different wings of the Conservative party.
Owen Paterson, the sacked environment secretary, was popular with the right, while departed figures like Dominic Grieve, the attorney general, Ken Clarke, the veteran cabinet minister without portfolio, and Damian Green, the policing minister, were backed by centrists within the party.
There has been a row over the appointment of Robert Buckland, a barrister, as solicitor-general, after it emerged he had been censured by the Bar Council in 2011 for professional misconduct related to improperly accessing some case notes. Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, has now written to Nicholas Lavender QC, of the Bar Council, to demand more answers about the situation.
A spokesperson for the attorney general said it was a "matter of public record that in May 2011 Robert Buckland was found to have committed a minor breach of the code of conduct of the bar of England and Wales.
"He was not suspended or fined and continued to practice and sit as a recorder. This finding was removed from the bar records after two years and therefore Mr Buckland was not required to declare it upon appointment as solicitor general."
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