A PETITION calling for Toby 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 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 Young's appointment to be reviewed, telling MPs: "I'm afraid I feel 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."

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

Halfon said 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 Young, who is a champion of free schools, which were introduced by David Cameron's administration.

Johnson, who is Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's brother, dismissed 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 Young's resignation showed 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."