Toby Young

[[File:Toby Young in 2011 (cropped).jpg|165px|thumb|Young in 2011]]
{{Media}}
'''Toby Daniel Moorsom Young''' {{lived|1963}} is a [[far-right]] [[British]] [[journalist]], [[author]], and former director of several educational institutions. He is known for supporting [[eugenics]], making [[homophobic]] and [[misogynistic]] comments on [[Twitter]], for admitting to being high on [[cocaine]] in a London club, and for founding the Free Speech Union.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Who We Are|url=https://freespeechunion.org/about/who-we-are/|access-date=2022-01-27|website=The Free Speech Union|language=en-GB|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807132243/https://freespeechunion.org/about/who-we-are/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In November 2021 he was awarded the 2021 Contrarian Prize.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/11/13/do-send-many-idiots-university/|title = Why do we send so many idiots to university?|last = Deacon|first = Michael| date=13 November 2021}}</ref>
==Sexism and homophobia==
In January 2018, Toby was controversially appointed to the post of non-executive director on the board of the {{wpl|Office for Students||.}}<ref name="Adams010118">{{Cite news|last=Adams|first=Richard|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/01/toby-young-universities-regulator-office-for-students|title=Toby Young to help lead government's new universities regulator|work=The Guardian|date=1 January 2018|access-date=1 January 2018|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He resigned slightly over a week later after significant public pressure over his large number of misogynistic and homophobic [[Twitter|tweets]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/toby-young-twitter-delete-tweets-universities-regulator-appointment-ofs-office-for-students-a8139841.html|work=The Independent|date=3 January 2018|quote='Labour has since demanded that Theresa May reverse his appointment because of what the party said was a history of "homophobia and misogyny"|title=Toby Young deletes thousands of tweets amid row over his universities regulator appointment |author=Ashley Cowburn}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-sexist-tweets-toby-young-has-just-deleted-2018-1?IR=T|publisher=Business Insider|date=3 January 2018|quote=However, Labour has urged May to reverse the appointment, citing a series of tweets Young has now deleted which have been described as sexist, homophobic and insulting to a number of groups.|author=Adam Payne|title=All the sexist tweets deleted by Toby Young, the guy chosen by the government to advise on universities}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=The Times|date=4 January 2018|quote=His appointment has been heavily criticised, first on the ground that Mr Young is poorly qualified for the job and then on ground that he has poor judgment after a slew of sexually derogatory tweets emerged. Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint leaders of the new National Education Union, have become the latest to criticise the appointment. In a letter to Ms Greening, they say Mr Young has made "unacceptable comments on disability, students from state schools getting into Oxbridge and children with special education needs. As equalities minister the sexist and homophobic comments Mr Young has made publicly must be as unacceptable to you as they are to the National Education Union.|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/toby-young-says-new-free-schools-must-show-they-are-needed-dmn9lwwhf |author= Rosemary Bennett |title=Toby Young says new free schools ‘must show they are needed’}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kentish|first=Ben|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-toby-young-sack-fire-refuse-misogynistic-homophobic-sexist-andrew-marr-bbc-latest-a8146236.html|title=Theresa May refuses to sack Toby Young over misogynistic and homophobic tweets|work=The Independent|date=7 January 2018|accessdate=9 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Rawlinson|first1=Kevin|last2=Phipps|first2=Claire|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/09/toby-young-resigns-office-for-students|title=Toby Young resigns from the Office for Students after backlash|work=The Guardian|date=9 January 2018|accessdate=9 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-toby-young-sack-fire-refuse-misogynistic-homophobic-sexist-andrew-marr-bbc-latest-a8146236.html |work=The Independent |date=9 January 2018|quote=Theresa May has backed Toby Young to continue in his new role with the higher education watchdog, despite mounting pressure to sack him over a series of misogynistic and homophobic tweets.|author= Benjamin Kentish| title=Theresa May refuses to sack Toby Young over misogynistic and homophobic tweets}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=London Evening Standard| date=9 January 2018 |quote=Mr Young had come under increasing scrutiny since his appointment in early January, when posts from his Twitter account were unearthed in which he was alleged to have made sexist and homophobic remarks. |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/toby-young-resigns-office-of-students-role-amid-twitter-controversy-a3735101.html |title= Toby Young resigns from Office for Students after backlash over his Twitter posts | author= Martin Coulter}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| work=Sheffield Telegraph |date=11 January 2018 |quote=May said she was "not impressed" with his language on Twitter when sexist, homophobic and other offences posts were revealed. |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111180123/https://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/education/education-monumental-errors-of-judgement-on-education-by-the-prime-minister-1-8951358| title=Education: Monumental errors of judgement on education by the Prime Minister}}</ref>

==Support of eugenics==
[[File:Private Eye Toby Young.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|''Private Eye'' published the first article ("Toby Young Breeds Contempt") that exposed the UCL conferences were attended by white supremacists and sexists.]]
In 2015, Young wrote an article for the Australian magazine {{wpl|Quadrant (magazine)|''Quadrant''}} entitled "The fall of meritocracy". In it, he advocated what he termed "progressive eugenics". Young proposed that when the technology for genetically-engineered intelligence is practical, it should be allowable for a decision to be made by poor parents with low [[IQ]]s concerning which [[embryo]]s should be allowed to develop using intelligence as a marker. "It could help to address the problem of flat-lining inter-generational social mobility", he wrote.<ref>{{cite news|last=Peyser|first=Robin de|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/toby-young-tweets-the-controversial-comments-that-led-to-his-resignation-a3735326.html|title=Toby Young tweets: the comments that led to his resignation|work=London Evening Standard|date=9 January 2018|accessdate=11 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2015/09/fall-meritocracy/|title=The Fall of the Meritocracy|work=Quadrant|date=7 September 2015|accessdate=11 January 2018}}</ref>

In January 2018, ''[[Private Eye]]''<ref>{{cite news|title=Toby Young breeds contempt|work=Private Eye|issue=1461|publisher=Pressdram Ltd|date=January 2018|page=11}}</ref> and the ''{{wpl|London Student}}''<ref>{{cite news|last1=Van Der Merwe|first1=Ben|title=Exposed: London’s eugenics conference and its neo-Nazi links – London Student|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110131144/http://londonstudent.coop/news/2018/01/10/exposed-london-eugenics-conferences-neo-nazi-links/|accessdate=30 January 2018|work=London Student|date=10 January 2018}}</ref> revealed that Young attended the London Conference on Intelligence at {{wpl|University College London}} (UCL) in 2017, which was described by the media and a number of politicians as a "secret eugenics conference".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Baynes|first1=Chris|title=University College London launches 'eugenics' probe after controversial secret conference on campus|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-college-london-eugenics-probe-secret-conference-campus-ucl-white-supremacists-debate-lci-a8153326.html|accessdate=21 January 2018|work=The Independent|date=11 January 2018}}</ref> The conference included speakers such as [[Richard Lynn]].<ref name="Rawlinson20180111">{{cite news|last1=Rawlinson|first1=Kevin|last2=Adams|first2=Richard|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/10/ucl-to-investigate-secret-eugenics-conference-held-on-campus|title=UCL to investigate eugenics conference secretly held on campus|work=The Guardian|date=11 January 2018|accessdate=11 January 2018}}</ref> Young distanced himself from the conference and wrote that his involvement was not significant.

== Drug use ==
In 2001, Toby admitted to having taken [[cocaine]] at the {{wpl|Groucho Club}} in central London<ref name="Milner">{{cite news|last1=Milner|first1=Catherine|last2=Hastings|first2=Chris|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1361435/White-powder-scare-at-the-Groucho.html|title=White powder scare at the Groucho|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 November 2001|accessdate=4 January 2018}}</ref> in 1997, as well as supplying drugs to others. As such activities are against the Club rules, he was subsequently expelled in late 2001 after writing about the cocaine use of his friends to whom he had supplied the drug during a photo shoot for ''Vanity Fair''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/nov/18/books.comment|title=I've been kicked out of the club|newspaper=The Observer|date=18 November 2001|accessdate=4 January 2018}}</ref>

==COVID-19==
In March 2020, he wrote an article in ''The Critic'' on COVID-19 that was condemned.<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people>{{cite news|url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/18347875.coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/|title=Coronavirus: Fury over Toby Young's claims about elderly people|last=Webster|first=Laura|newspaper=The National}}</ref> In the article he wrote:

{{quotebox|Like a growing number of people, I’m beginning to suspect the Government has overreacted to the coronavirus crisis. I’m not talking about the cost to our liberty, although that’s worrying, but the economic cost.

Even if we accept the statistical modelling of Dr Neil Ferguson’s team at Imperial College, which I’ll come to in a minute, spending £350 billion to prolong the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people is an irresponsible use of taxpayer’s money.<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>}}

Journalist Ruth Wishart tweeted:

{{quotebox|I daresay most sentient beings believe Toby Young is heartless, waste of space. So you do wonder why he feels it necessary to keep proving it.<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>}}

Byline Times editor Peter Jukes tweeted:

{{quotebox|In normal times the far right eugenicist views of people like Toby Young are just shameful and embarrassing. During a pandemic they can be outright deadly.<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>}}

In the article, Young argued for ending the lockdown before April 14, 2020, a view similar to one espoused by [[Donald Trump]].<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>

Critics had suggested that Young would change his mind if he contracted COVID-19, to which he said he thought he'd already had it, adding:

{{quotebox|If the Government does end the lockdown, and it turns out that by the time I require critical care the NHS cannot accommodate me, I won’t regret writing this.<ref name=the-national-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>}}

==(The ''De Facto'' Non-)Free Speech Union==
In 2020 he formed the so-called Free Speech Union (FSU), supposedly dedicated to preserving [[free speech]]. It promised to defend the free speech of all members who paid a subscription fee, which started at £49.95 (50% off for students and pensioners).<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/24/toby-young-free-speech-union-twitter Say what you want about Toby Young – no, really, he’ll defend your right to say it], Joel Golby, The Guardian, 24 Feb 2020</ref> However, in practice, it has ''de facto'' close links to right-wing thinktank [[Institute of Economic Affairs]]: for instance, co-hosting an event at which anti-woke campaigner [[Laurence Fox]] was one of the speakers.<ref>[https://iea.org.uk/films/think-tent-2020-free-speech-in-crisis/ Think Tent 2020: Free speech in crisis?], Institute of Economic Affairs</ref>

It early opposed [[COVID]] orthodoxy, launching an unsuccessful judicial review challenging media regulator OFCOM's attempts to prevent COVID misinformation during the pandemic.<ref name=guardianfsu2021/>

There are few occasions that it has actually spoken up for free speech; it offered to defend anti-monarchist protestors after Queen [[Elizabeth II]]'s death in 2022.<ref>[https://xcancel.com/SpeechUnion/status/1569302893081018368 If any republican is arrested and charged for protesting against the monarchy we urge them to contact a member of our case team on help@freespeechunion.com. The right to protest is a fundamental human right and the police and courts ignore it at their peril.], @SpeechUnion, Twitter, 12 September 2022</ref> However it is unclear if it actually provided any help.

In January 2021, the FSU was accused of secretly organising a campaign which claimed to be promoting free speech in universities but was actually a front for the FSU's right-wing beliefs, leading to many student groups disengaging from it. The Free Speech Youth Advisory Board was attacked by university anti-censorship and human rights groups as an "astroturfing" front that imposed the FSU's political beliefs and wasn't genuinely interested in international free speech but only in promoting a "[[culture war]]" against the left in the UK.<ref name=guardianfsu2021>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/09/students-quit-free-speech-campaign-over-role-of-toby-young-founded-group Students quit free speech campaign over role of Toby Young-founded group], The Guardian, 9 Jan 2021</ref>

The group's views on free speech were also questioned when someone on Twitter insulted Allison Pearson, a trollish right-wing newspaper columnist and member of the FSU's media advisory group, and Pearson tried to contact the person's boss and get them sacked. This attempt at cancellation wasn't viewed as very pro-free-speech.<ref name=guardianfsu2021/> In December 2021, a ''Byline Times'' investigation reported that the Free Speech Union was intimately tied to a network backed by right-wing German-American billionaire [[Peter Thiel]].<ref>Nafeez Ahmed (December 10, 2021). [https://bylinetimes.com/2021/12/10/peter-thiels-free-speech-for-race-science-crusade-at-cambridge-university-revealed/ "Peter Thiel's Free Speech for Race Science Crusade at Cambridge University Revealed"]. ''Byline Times''.</ref>

In other instances of censorship, the FSU has called on the government to ban drag events for children including Drag Queen Story Hour UK, because the suggestion that people can change their gender is an affront to the FSU's [[transphobia]].<ref>[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/09/13/drag-queen-story-hour-uk-aida-h-dee-free-speech-union/ Free Speech Union calls on Liz Truss to censor family-friendly drag events], Pink News, 13 September 2022</ref>

In September 2022, there was also a brief tizzy when [[Twitter]] suspended the Free Speech Union's twitter account for a few days, along with accounts for [[COVID]]-sceptics The Daily Sceptic and UsForThem; some right-wing MPs wrote stern letters and the FSU was reinstated. As is common with Twitter, it isn't entirely clear why this happened but seems to have been about COVID misinformation (as the ''New Statesman'' has suggested).<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/09/27/paypal-reinstates-free-speech-union-accounts-accused-politically/ PayPal reinstates Free Speech Union accounts after being accused of ‘politically motivated’ ban], The Daily Telegraph, 27 September 2022</ref><ref>[https://www.newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022/09/paypal-vs-toby-young-free-speech-free-market PayPal vs Toby Young isn’t about free speech – it’s about the free market], New Statesman, 23 September 2022</ref>

==Stewart Lee vs The Toadmeister==

[[File:toadmeister.png|thumb|right|400px|Toby Young's X/Twitter handle is @toadmeister <ref>[https://archive.ph/ZUfAf Toby Young account] ''X/Twitter'' (Retrieved February 12, 2025)</ref> ]]British comedian {{wpl|Stewart Lee}} criticized Toby Young in two editorials in ''[[The Guardian]]''. The first, published in 2018 addressed Young's habit of referring to himself as the "Toadmeister":
{{quotebox|But where now for the Maverick Toadmeister? Can even vile jam-rags like the ''Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'' employ him now? Who calls themselves, as an adult, the “Toadmeister” anyway? And “maverick” is what the commissioner shouts at Dirty Harry. It’s not what Dirty Harry tells the commissioner he is himself. That would be very uncool. Who does these strange and desperate things? Someone in search of an identity that has eluded them.

Sometime around 20 years ago Toby Young started being nasty about people less fortunate and privileged than him, and, like a shit {{wpl|Jeremy Clarkson|Clarkson}}, he found it was easy to do and paid good money; and then the wind changed, and Toby Young was stuck with the horrible face he had made. And now people all over the internet will be drawing foreskins on his bald head. For ever. And Captain Von Trapp will never urinate standing up again.<ref>[https://archive.ph/UeikG How Toby Young got where he isn’t today] (January 14, 2018) Stewart Lee ''The Guardian'' (Retrieved February 12, 2025) </ref>}}

In the second article, published in 2020, Lee focused on the Free Speech union:
{{quotebox|What Youngs{{sic}} really wants isn’t a Free Speech Union™®. He wants a Freedom from Consequences of Speech Union and a credible-sounding caption for his BBC appearances: “Toby Youngs, Free Speech Union.” But within 24 hours of announcing his Wazzocks’ Waco, his X-Men of Shits, Youngs’s endearingly bumbling ''Sun'' interview, in which he wouldn’t guarantee Tommy Robinson’s freedom to speak, exposed his contradictory thinking. Toby Youngs is a tragic fly, floating on flimsy wings of unearned privilege and family connections, banging repeatedly into the same window pane of failure, all the while wishing he were the soaring eagle of legend, instead of something that vomits on to its own food and sucks it back up into its mouth.<ref>[https://archive.ph/AXneL Can it be right to silence Toby Youngs?] (March 1, 2020) Stewart Lee ''The Guardian'' (Retrieved February 12, 2025)</ref>}}

Lee also mentioned Young in his 2025 standup show ''Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf''.<ref>[https://archive.ph/p8SRT REVIEW: Stewart Lee Vs The Man-Wulf, York Theatre Royal] (January 30, 2025) Charles Hutchinson ''The Press'' (Retrieved February 12, 2025)</ref>

==See also==
*''[[The Critic]]''

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Toby}}
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Eugenics supporters]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sexists]]
[[Category:Thielsphere]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:COVID-19 denialists]]

Categories: Authors, British people, Journalists, Eugenics supporters, Living people, Sexists, Thielsphere, Homophobes, Purity culture, Racists, COVID-19 denialists