Toby Young quits as universities regulator over 'ill-judged' tweets

Toby Young has announced he is standing down from the universities regulator saying his appointment has “become a distraction”.

The journalist turned educationalist apologised “unreservedly” for a string of controversial comments he had made on social media in recent years.

His announcement comes after ministers were forced defend his appointment in the Commons on Monday following backlash from MPs, including prominent Tories.

Writing in The Spectator, Mr Young said: “The caricature drawn of me in the last seven days, particularly on social media, has been unrecognisable to anyone who knows me.

“I am a passionate supporter of inclusion and helping the most disadvantaged, as I hope my track record of setting up and supporting new schools demonstrates.

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“But some of the things I said before I got involved in education, when I was a journalistic provocateur, were either ill-judged or just plain wrong – and I unreservedly apologise.”

A petition calling for Mr Young to be sacked from the board of the Office for Students (OfS) has gathered more than 219,000 signatures.

Theresa May was forced in an interview on Sunday to address criticism about the appointment and said she had been unaware of his history of crude and sexist comments.

Education select committee chairman and Conservative MP Robert Halfon, who has cerebral palsy, attacked the “dark” and “dangerous” articles written by Mr Young in the past during an urgent debate in the Commons on the issue.

He said: “What I’m more concerned about is some quite dark articles where he talks about the disabled, where he talks about the working classes, and much more significantly in 2015 – and I have the article here – on what he calls progressive eugenics.

“Now, I find this incredibly dark and very dangerous stuff.”

Tory Sarah Wollaston called for Mr Young’s appointment to be reviewed, telling MPs: “I’m afraid I feel Mr Young’s comments do cross a line and are therein indicative of an underlying character and the kind of person that would tweet comments to a woman that talk about masturbating over images of refugees.”

Mr Young’s resignation from the newly-created post of universities regulator – much like his appointment – quickly provoked debate among senior politicians.

Mr Halfon said Mr Young had “done the honourable thing” in quitting.

But shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “The Toby Young saga has cast great doubt on the judgment of the PM, who failed to sack him in the first place.”

Universities minister Jo Johnson, who was forced to defend him in the Commons on Monday night, stood firm in his support of Mr Young, who is a champion of free schools, which were introduced by David Cameron’s administration.

Mr Johnson, who is Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s brother, dismissed Mr Young’s detractors as “armchair critics”.

He wrote on Twitter: “Toby Young’s track record setting up & supporting free schools speaks for itself.

“His decision to stand down from the OfS board and repeat unreserved apologies for inappropriate past remarks reflects his character better than the one-sided caricature from his armchair critics.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said Mr Young’s resignation showed Mrs May had shown “poor judgment”.

He said: “Toby Young’s appointment was a serious mistake, but at least the man himself has realised as much and resigned.

“The Conservatives must get their basic due diligence right – getting a role in public office cannot be based solely on being a friend of Boris Johnson.

“Theresa May stood by a misogynist and supporter of eugenics. She has shown poor judgment and, coupled with a troubled reshuffle, has made a bad start to the year.”

Off-the-cuff comments and thoughtless remarks online have a permanency which has haunted celebrities, politicians and journalists alike in recent months.

In November last year, a seminal moment for Gay Times magazine – the appointment of its first black editor – ended in ignominy when his ugly Twitter history reared its head.

Josh Rivers was dismissed from the top job at the publication after a series anti-Semitic tweets, posted between 2010 and 2015, were exposed.

A similar controversy hung over Westminster in October 2017 when Labour MP Jared O’Mara had his internet presence dredged up in public.

Like Mr Rivers, the Sheffield Hallam MP had found himself suddenly thrust into the spotlight when he ousted former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg at last year’s general election.

Posts made on a website years before showed Mr O’Mara joking about having an orgy with members of Girls Aloud, claiming Michelle McManus only won Pop Idol “because she was fat” and suggesting it would be funny if jazz star Jamie Cullum was “sodomised with his own piano”.

The 36-year-old was suspended from Labour over the comments, which were made more than a decade before he became an MP.

ITV’s hit reality show I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! had the launch of its latest series engulfed in drama due to the digital life of one contestant.

Jack Maynard, the YouTube star, left the Australian jungle-based competition when offensive posts and an inappropriate exchange with a teenage girl were picked up by the press.

In a subsequent video blog posted online, he warned his audience: “All I can do is just beg and encourage that you guys don’t make the same mistake as well, don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t say to your mum.”

(Main picture: Rex)