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| Toby Young resigns from the Office for Students after backlash | Toby Young resigns from the Office for Students after backlash |
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| Toby Young has stepped down from the Office for Students less than 24 hours after the universities minister issued a robust defence of his position in the Commons, amid a huge backlash over the free schools champion’s appointment. | Toby Young has stepped down from the Office for Students less than 24 hours after the universities minister issued a robust defence of his position in the Commons, amid a huge backlash over the free schools champion’s appointment. |
| In a statement posted on the Spectator website on Tuesday morning, Young said: “My appointment has become a distraction from its vital work of broadening access to higher education and defending academic freedom.” | In a statement posted on the Spectator website on Tuesday morning, Young said: “My appointment has become a distraction from its vital work of broadening access to higher education and defending academic freedom.” |
| Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, had strongly criticised Young’s appointment in a letter to the prime minister last Friday. | Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, had strongly criticised Young’s appointment in a letter to the prime minister last Friday. |
| “The Toby Young saga has cast great doubt on the judgment of the PM who failed to sack him in the first place. Then yesterday we had the spectacle of government universities minister defending his appointment in parliament, he had to go. Tory cronyism could not save his job,” Rayner wrote on Twitter. | “The Toby Young saga has cast great doubt on the judgment of the PM who failed to sack him in the first place. Then yesterday we had the spectacle of government universities minister defending his appointment in parliament, he had to go. Tory cronyism could not save his job,” Rayner wrote on Twitter. |
| On Monday afternoon, just hours before Young announced his decision to resign, the universities minister, Jo Johnson, defended him in the Commons. | |
| The following morning, having learned of the resignation, he said: “Toby Young’s track record setting up and 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.” | The following morning, having learned of the resignation, he said: “Toby Young’s track record setting up and 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.” |
| Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities minister and a co-signatory of the letter sent on Friday, said: “The Toby Young saga has further exposed Theresa May’s total lack of judgment in appointing him and her weakness in refusing to sack him. She should have removed him from his post, not personally backed him at the weekend and sent a minister out to defend him in parliament yesterday.” Labour colleagues also criticised the government’s stance over Young. | |
| The Government are always 10 minutes late for the right decision. It's as if they love to be dragged kicking and screaming to the right decision and that they want to damage their reputation. | The Government are always 10 minutes late for the right decision. It's as if they love to be dragged kicking and screaming to the right decision and that they want to damage their reputation. |
| Young’s appointment to the board of the OfS, which is meant to help uphold standards at universities, caused a storm after a string of offensive tweets directed at women, and controversial writing about working-class students, were highlighted by critics. | Young’s appointment to the board of the OfS, which is meant to help uphold standards at universities, caused a storm after a string of offensive tweets directed at women, and controversial writing about working-class students, were highlighted by critics. |
| Young, whose professional life has increasingly turned from his work as a journalist to the field of education, has cast his previous comments as remnants of a former life, for which he should not be judged too harshly now. | Young, whose professional life has increasingly turned from his work as a journalist to the field of education, has cast his previous comments as remnants of a former life, for which he should not be judged too harshly now. |
| However, his critics have insisted they constitute a decades-old record of behaviour that is discriminatory towards many people. | However, his critics have insisted they constitute a decades-old record of behaviour that is discriminatory towards many people. |
| Writing on Tuesday, Young said: “The caricature drawn of me in the last seven days, particularly on social media, has been unrecognisable to anyone who knows me.” But he conceded: “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.” | Writing on Tuesday, Young said: “The caricature drawn of me in the last seven days, particularly on social media, has been unrecognisable to anyone who knows me.” But he conceded: “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.” |
| Critics have pointed to a number of publicly posted lewd comments about women’s breasts made by Young. During prime minister’s questions in 2012, he tweeted: “Serious cleavage behind @Ed_Miliband’s head. Anyone know who it belongs to?” | Critics have pointed to a number of publicly posted lewd comments about women’s breasts made by Young. During prime minister’s questions in 2012, he tweeted: “Serious cleavage behind @Ed_Miliband’s head. Anyone know who it belongs to?” |
| Pamela Nash, the former Labour MP referred to in the tweet, told the Guardian: “This is not about the odd tweet or stray comment. This is about a sustained, twisted view that has been expressed over many years.” | Pamela Nash, the former Labour MP referred to in the tweet, told the Guardian: “This is not about the odd tweet or stray comment. This is about a sustained, twisted view that has been expressed over many years.” |
| Young’s decision to resign also calls into question the judgment of the prime minister and some the most senior members of the cabinet – including the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove – who had defended the journalist. | Young’s decision to resign also calls into question the judgment of the prime minister and some the most senior members of the cabinet – including the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove – who had defended the journalist. |
| In an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC on Sunday, May appeared to back Young, saying he had done “exceedingly good work in relation to free schools” but warned that any future offensive language would result in him being “no longer … in public office”. | In an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC on Sunday, May appeared to back Young, saying he had done “exceedingly good work in relation to free schools” but warned that any future offensive language would result in him being “no longer … in public office”. |
| Last Wednesday, two days after the appointment, Boris Johnson criticised the “ridiculous outcry” that met it, saying Young would “bring independence, rigour and caustic wit” to the OfS. He was, the foreign secretary insisted, the “ideal man for [the] job”. | Last Wednesday, two days after the appointment, Boris Johnson criticised the “ridiculous outcry” that met it, saying Young would “bring independence, rigour and caustic wit” to the OfS. He was, the foreign secretary insisted, the “ideal man for [the] job”. |
| Gove agreed, saying Boris Johnson’s comments were “quite right too”. He asked: “How many of Toby Young’s critics have worked night and day to provide great state schools for children of every background?” | Gove agreed, saying Boris Johnson’s comments were “quite right too”. He asked: “How many of Toby Young’s critics have worked night and day to provide great state schools for children of every background?” |
| In a blogpost announcing his resignation, Young thanked the prime minister “for standing by me, and drawing a distinction between my earlier life and my subsequent record in education”. | In a blogpost announcing his resignation, Young thanked the prime minister “for standing by me, and drawing a distinction between my earlier life and my subsequent record in education”. |
| Young’s departure came just hours after the education secretary, Justine Greening, left the government. She was replaced by Damian Hinds. | Young’s departure came just hours after the education secretary, Justine Greening, left the government. She was replaced by Damian Hinds. |
| On Monday, Jo Johnson told MPs that Young’s transgressions were “foolish and wrong” but insisted it should be taken into account that “some of [them] go back to the 1980s”. | |
| He echoed May in saying Young had been “doing ‘exceedingly good work’ in our education system”, adding that it was “for that reason that he is well placed to make a valuable contribution to the work of the board of the Office for Students, where he will continue to do much more to support the disadvantaged than so many of his armchair critics”. | He echoed May in saying Young had been “doing ‘exceedingly good work’ in our education system”, adding that it was “for that reason that he is well placed to make a valuable contribution to the work of the board of the Office for Students, where he will continue to do much more to support the disadvantaged than so many of his armchair critics”. |
| Jo Johnson insisted he did not see “why we should take lessons from the Labour party on these matters”. There was, however, crossbench criticism of his appointment. | Jo Johnson insisted he did not see “why we should take lessons from the Labour party on these matters”. There was, however, crossbench criticism of his appointment. |
| Speaking in Monday’s debate, the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said: “I am afraid that I feel Mr Young’s comments do cross a line and are indicative of an underlying character. We are talking about the kind of person who would tweet comments to a woman about masturbating over images of refugees – this does just cross a line.” | |
| Her Tory colleague Robert Halfon said of Young’s appointment: “Things have gone badly wrong here.” He told MPs: “I accept that Mr Young has done great work on free schools, but so have many other people. I am not talking about the things he has done on Twitter; I am more concerned about some quite dark articles in which he talks about the disabled and the working classes. Much more significantly ... in 2015, he talked about what he calls ‘progressive eugenics’, which is incredibly dark and dangerous stuff.” | Her Tory colleague Robert Halfon said of Young’s appointment: “Things have gone badly wrong here.” He told MPs: “I accept that Mr Young has done great work on free schools, but so have many other people. I am not talking about the things he has done on Twitter; I am more concerned about some quite dark articles in which he talks about the disabled and the working classes. Much more significantly ... in 2015, he talked about what he calls ‘progressive eugenics’, which is incredibly dark and dangerous stuff.” |