Tony Abbott, the Liberal Party president and close ally of Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, has accused the ICAC of overstepping its remit by becoming involved in an “internal party squabble”.

Abbott, whom Taylor picked as federal president in May, described the religious-right Reformers as a group of enthusiastic young Christians with a strong sense of mission, and argued there was no suggestion of self-enriching corruption.

Abbott acknowledged the Reformers, whose key members provided evidence in the first week of Operation Rosny’s hearings, “might have let their enthusiasm get the better of their judgment.”

However, the former prime minister told this masthead the inquiry seemed to involve one faction weaponising the ICAC against another.