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((Short description|British journalist))
((Use dmy dates|date=February 2019))
((EngvarB|date=August 2016))
((Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    =
| office              = Non-Executive Member of the Board of the<br />[[Office for Students]]
| term_start          = 2 January 2018
| term_end            = 9 January 2018
| predecessor         = 
| successor           = 
| name                = Toby Young
| image               = Toby Young in 2011 (cropped).jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Young in 2011
| birth_name          = Toby Daniel Moorsom Young
| birth_date          = ((Birth date and age|df=yes|1963|10|17))
| birth_place         = [[Buckinghamshire]], England
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| spouse              = ((marriage|Caroline Bondy|July 2001))
| children            = 4
| father              = [[Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington|Michael Young]]
| party               = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42540363|title=I'm a target because I'm a Tory – Young|work=BBC News|date=2 January 2018|access-date=12 January 2018))</ref>
| occupation          = Journalist
| movement            = 
| influences          = 
| influenced          = 
| period              = 
| education           = [[Brasenose College, Oxford]]<br />[[Harvard University]]<br />[[Trinity College, Cambridge]] (did not graduate)
))

'''Toby Daniel Moorsom Young''' (born 17 October 1963) is a British social commentator. He is the founder and director of 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))</ref><ref>((cite news|first1=Archie|last1=Bland|access-date=10 January 2021|title=Students quit free speech campaign over role of Toby Young-founded group|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/09/students-quit-free-speech-campaign-over-role-of-toby-young-founded-group|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 January 2021|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com))</ref> an associate editor of ''[[The Spectator]]'',<ref name=Spec/> and a former associate editor at ''[[Quillette]].''<ref>((cite news |last=Lederer |first=Katy |author-link1=Katy Lederer |date=25 January 2022 |title=Can They Read? |url=https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/can-they-read/ |work=[[n+1]] |location= |access-date=30 January 2022))</ref> 

A graduate of the [[University of Oxford]], Young briefly worked for ''[[The Times]]'', before co-founding the London magazine ''[[Modern Review (London)|Modern Review]]'' in 1991. He edited it until financial difficulties led to its demise in 1995. His 2001 memoir, ''[[How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (memoir)|How to Lose Friends & Alienate People]]'', details his subsequent employment at ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]''. He then went on to write for ''[[The Sun on Sunday]]'', the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', and ''[[The Spectator]]''. He also served as a judge in seasons five and six of the television show ''[[Top Chef]]''.<ref>[http://www.tvguide.com/News/Top-Chef-Preview-58430.aspx "What's Cooking with Season 5 of ''Top Chef''?"] ''[[TV Guide]]''. 12 November 2008. Retrieved 12 November 2008.</ref> A proponent of [[Free school (England)|free schools]], Young co-founded the [[West London Free School]] and served as director of the [[New Schools Network]].

Young has been at the centre of several controversies. In 2015, he wrote an article in advocacy of genetically engineered intelligence, which he described as "progressive [[eugenic]]s".<ref name=":0"/> In early January 2018, he was briefly a non-executive director on the board of the [[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> an appointment from which he resigned within a few days after [[Twitter]] posts described as "misogynistic and homophobic" were uncovered.<ref name=tweets>
* ((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 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/toby-young-twitter-delete-tweets-universities-regulator-appointment-ofs-office-for-students-a8139841.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|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))
* ((cite news|url=http://uk.businessinsider.com/here-are-all-the-sexist-tweets-toby-young-has-just-deleted-2018-1|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))
* ((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'))
* ((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|access-date=9 January 2018))
* ((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|access-date=9 January 2018))
* ((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))
* ((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))
* ((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://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> In 2020, press regulator [[Independent Press Standards Organisation]] (IPSO) found Young to have promoted [[COVID-19 misinformation|misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic]] in a ''Daily Telegraph'' column.<ref name="guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column" /><ref name="bbc-toby-young-telegraph-coronavirus-column-significantly-misleading" />

== Early life ==
Born in [[Buckinghamshire]], Young was brought up in [[Highgate]], [[North London]], and in [[South Devon]]. His mother Sasha (1931–1993), daughter of Raisley Stewart Moorsom, a descendant of Admiral Sir [[Robert Moorsom]], who fought at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]],<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2007/11/im-proud-that-my-ancestor-served-at-trafalgar-but-not-too-proud-to-sell-his-stuff/|title=I'm proud that my ancestor served at Trafalgar. But not too proud to sell his stuff|date=7 November 2007|website=The Spectator))</ref><ref>Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 1999, vol. 2, p. 3093</ref> was a BBC Radio producer, artist and writer,<ref>((cite news|work=The Independent| date=June 25, 1993 | title = Obituary: Sasha Young | author=  Karl Miller | page = 24))</ref> and his father was [[Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington|Michael Young]] (later <!-- From 1978. -->Lord Young of Dartington), a [[Labour party (UK)|Labour]] [[life peer]] and pioneering [[sociologist]] who coined the word ''[[meritocracy]]''.<ref>Michael Young [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/29/comment "Down with meritocracy"], ''The Guardian'', 29 June 2001. Retrieved 14 February 2010.</ref> Although entitled to use the style ''The Hon. Toby Young'',<ref>((cite book| editor-last = Mosley| editor-first = Charles| title = [[Burke's Peerage]] & Baronetage, 106th edn | publisher = Burke's Peerage Ltd | page = 3093 (YOUNG OF DARTINGTON, LP) | date = 1999 | isbn = 2-940085-02-1))</ref> he does not.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/may/17/workandcareers1|website=theguardian.com|access-date=5 July 2015|title=The office clown – By Toby Young|date=16 May 2008))</ref>

Young was educated at [[Creighton School]] (now [[Fortismere School]]), [[Muswell Hill]] and [[King Edward VI Community College]], [[Totnes]]. Young later claimed that he was not popular at school, writing, "My only friend was a black boy called Remi, who explained that the reason he'd taken a shine to me was because he knew what it was like to be a 'nigger'."<ref>((cite news| location=London| work=The Independent| first=Toby| last=Young | title=Young, gifted and disliked| date=21 October 2001))</ref> He left school at 16, having failed all but one of his [[GCE Ordinary Level|O Levels]] (the pass was a C in English Literature<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/05/why-impulsive-vain-toby-young-wants-us-to-take-him-seriously|title=Toby Young: social media self-obsessive still battling with father's shadow|last=Booth|first=Robert|date=5 January 2018|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=5 September 2018))</ref>), and was briefly employed under a Government [[Workfare in the United Kingdom|Youth Training Scheme]].((citation needed|date=October 2019)) He then retook his O Levels and went to the Sixth Form of [[William Ellis School]], [[Highgate]], leaving with two Bs and a C at [[A Level]]. Having applied to study [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] (PPE) at [[Oxford University]], he had been given a conditional offer of three Bs plus an O Level pass in a foreign language from [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose College]], under a scheme to provide university access to comprehensive pupils. Despite thus failing to achieve that offer, he was nevertheless awarded a place to study at the college.<ref name=sundaytimes>((cite news|last=Mikhailova|first=Anna|title=Fame and Fortune: How not to alienate the taxman|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/money/investments/article1241130.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004234751/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/money/investments/article1241130.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 October 2013|access-date=8 August 2013|newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]]|date=7 April 2013|page=8))</ref><ref>((cite news|title=Oxford admissions rouse passion as two tribes war over 'unfairness'|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/421666.article|access-date=3 August 2013|newspaper=[[Times Higher Education]]))</ref><ref name=status>((cite news|last=Young|first=Toby|title=Status Anxiety|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/life/status-anxiety/2092496/status-anxiety-49/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924131450/http://www.spectator.co.uk/life/status-anxiety/2092496/status-anxiety-49/|archive-date=24 September 2015|access-date=3 August 2013|newspaper=[[The Spectator]]|date=11 September 2008))</ref> Young said he was sent an acceptance letter by mistake, as well as a letter of rejection from the admissions tutor [[Harry Judge]]. In an article he wrote for ''The Spectator'', he said that his father phoned Judge to clarify the situation – Judge was in a meeting with the PPE tutors at the time, and after some discussion, they decided to offer Young a place owing to a moral obligation the mistaken acceptance created.<ref name=status /><ref name="Wilby" /> 

Young graduated in 1986 with a [[British undergraduate degree classification#First Class Honours|first]] in PPE, and then worked for ''[[The Times]]'' for a six-month period as a news trainee until he was fired for (according to Young himself) hacking the computer system, impersonating the editor [[Charles Wilson (journalist)|Charles Wilson]] and circulating information about senior executives' salaries to others around the building.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11977647/I-went-to-a-state-school-and-got-a-First-at-Oxford.html|title=I went to a state school and got a First at Oxford|last=Young|first=Toby|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=5 November 2015|access-date=3 September 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235))</ref><ref>((cite book|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-nwIgHbrZgC&pg=PT26|title=The Sound of No Hands Clapping|location=London|publisher=Little, Brown/Hachette Digital|year=2008|orig-year=2006|page=26|isbn=9780748109852))</ref> He was awarded a [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright Scholarship]] and studied at [[Harvard University|Harvard]] and spent a two-year period at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he carried out research for a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] which he left before completing.<ref name="Wilby">((cite news|last=Wilby|first=Peter|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/apr/05/toby-young-london-free-school|title=Can Toby Young's free school succeed?|work=The Guardian|date=5 April 2011|access-date=5 January 2018))</ref>

==Journalism, writing and activism==
In 1991, Young co-founded and co-edited the ''[[Modern Review (London)|Modern Review]]'' with [[Julie Burchill]] and her then husband [[Cosmo Landesman]]. Its motto was "Low culture for highbrows".<ref name="Harris2005">((cite news|last=Harris|first=John|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/may/29/pressandpublishing.observerreview|title=I supplied talent and drugs|work=The Observer|date=29 May 2005|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref> "The whole enterprise was driven by one fairly simple idea", Young said in 2005. "And that was that critics had a responsibility to take the best popular culture as seriously as the best high culture".<ref name="Harris2005"/>

Four years later the magazine was close to financial collapse and Young closed it down, angering his principal financial backer [[Peter York]], as well as Burchill and staff writer [[Charlotte Raven]].<ref name="Barber">((cite news|last=Barber|first=Lynn|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/03/biography|title=Forever Young|work=The Observer|date=3 September 2006|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref> Burchill had tried to replace Young as editor with Raven. "Ultimately the reason we fell out is because our relationship began as a kind of mentor-apprentice, and that was a kind of relationship which Julie was comfortable with. It was only when I succeeded in getting out from under her shadow that our relationship deteriorated", Young said in 2005.<ref>((cite news|last1=Young|first1=Toby|last2=Morris|first2=Sophie|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-mentor-toby-young-on-julie-burchill-318526.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-mentor-toby-young-on-julie-burchill-318526.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=My Mentor: Toby Young on Julie Burchill|work=The Independent|date=9 October 2005|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref>

Young moved to New York City shortly afterwards to work for ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' accepting an invitation from its editor, [[Graydon Carter]].((citation needed|date=September 2018)) In the time he wrote for the magazine he contributed 3,000 words, but was paid $85,000.<ref>((cite book|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeSbvMB9ChUC&pg=PT111|title=How To Lose Friends & Alienate People|location=London|publisher=Little, Brown/Hachette Digital|year=2008|orig-year=2001|page=111|isbn=9780748109845))</ref> After being sacked by ''Vanity Fair'' in 1998, he stayed in New York for two more years, working as a columnist for the ''[[New York Press]]'', before returning to the UK in 2000. A memoir of these years, ''[[How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (memoir)|How to Lose Friends and Alienate People]]'', was published in 2001.<ref>((cite news|last=Anthony|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/nov/11/society1|title=How to screw up. Big time|work=The Observer|date=11 November 2001|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref>

Following [[Jack Davenport]], Young performed in the [[West End theatre|West End]] one-man stage adaptation of ''How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'' in 2004. Theatre critic [[Lyn Gardner]] gave it a one star review commenting that "The curious thing about this is that Young's day job is as theatre critic of the Spectator. You would think he might have developed some respect for the job that actors do. Clearly not. But then, neither does he appear to have picked up any tips on acting along the way."<ref>((cite web|last=Gardner|first=Lyn|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/oct/30/theatre|title=How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (review)|work=The Guardian|date=30 October 2004|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref> A review in [[The Stage]] disagreed, saying "Despite Young's previous thespic experience being the only student at Anna Scher’s drama school not to get a part in Grange Hill and having been fired after a week as an extra on the film Another Country, he gives a thoroughly convincing performance as himself…".<ref>((cite news |title='Toby Young is thoroughly convincing… as himself' – 15 years ago in The Stage |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/archive/toby-young-is-thoroughly-convincing-as-himself--15-years-ago-in-the-stage |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=The Stage |publisher=[[The Stage]] |language=En))</ref> The Evening Standard also praised his performance.<ref>((cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Pete|title=Winning friends in theatreland |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/winning-friends-in-theatreland-7382816.html |access-date=20 August 2022 |work=Evening Standard |date=10 April 2012 |language=en))</ref> In 2005, he co-wrote (with fellow ''Spectator'' journalist Lloyd Evans) a sex farce about the [[David Blunkett]]/[[Kimberley Fortier|Kimberley Quinn]] intrigue and the "Sextator" affairs of [[Boris Johnson]] and [[Rod Liddle]] called ''Who's the Daddy?''<ref>Sarah Lyall [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/24/opinion/spectator.php "A very British 'documentary farce'"], ''International Herald Tribune'', 25 August 2005, reprinting a ''New York Times'' article. Retrieved 23 June 2007.</ref><ref name=it-just-how-horrible-is-toby-young>((Cite news|title=Just how horrible is Toby Young?|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/just-how-horrible-is-toby-young-1.891594|last=Clarke|first=Donald|date=4 October 2008|access-date=18 January 2021|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]))</ref> It was named as the Best New Comedy at the [[Whatsonstage.com Awards|2006 Theatregoers' Choice Awards]].<ref>((cite news
|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/review/panel/5327292.stm
|title= Toby Young
|access-date=22 October 2008
|work=BBC News
|date= 8 September 2006 ))</ref> The following year ''A Right Royal Farce'', Young and Evans' play about sexual antics of the [[British royal family]] was poorly received by the press.<ref name=it-just-how-horrible-is-toby-young/><ref name=guardian-a-right-royal-farce>((Cite news|title=A Right Royal Farce|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/aug/01/theatre1|last=Billington|first=Michael|date=1 August 2006|access-date=18 January 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]|author-link=Michael Billington (critic)))</ref> Young said of the play "It was an unqualified disaster".<ref name=it-just-how-horrible-is-toby-young/> It received scathing reviews from the ''[[Evening Standard]]''<ref name=it-just-how-horrible-is-toby-young/> and ''The Guardian''.<ref name=guardian-a-right-royal-farce/>

From 2002 to 2007, Young wrote a restaurant column for the ''Evening Standard'' and later a restaurant column for ''[[The Independent on Sunday]]''. In addition to serving as a judge on ''[[Top Chef]]'', Young has competed in the [[Channel 4]] TV series ''[[Come Dine with Me]]'', appeared as one of the panel of food critics in the 2008 [[BBC Two]] series ''Eating with the Enemy'' and served as a judge on ''[[Hell's Kitchen (UK)|Hell's Kitchen]]''.<ref>[http://www.tobyyoung.co.uk/restaurant_reviews/3/list.html "Archive of Toby Young's Restaurant Reviews"], ''Evening Standard''.</ref>

Young is an associate editor of ''[[The Spectator]]'', where he writes a weekly column, the editor of ''Spectator Life''<ref name=Spec>((Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/author/toby-young/|title=Author: Toby Young ((!)) The Spectator|website=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=3 September 2018))</ref> and a regular contributor to the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/toby-young/|title=Toby Young|work=The Telegraph|access-date=3 September 2018|language=en-GB))</ref> His ''Telegraph'' blog was long-listed for the [[Orwell Prize|2012 George Orwell Prize]] for blogging.<ref>[http://theorwellprize.co.uk/longlists/toby-young/ "Telegraph Blogs: Toby Young"], The Orwell Prize.</ref> He was a political columnist for ''The Sun on Sunday'' for its first 11 months.<ref>((cite news|last=Montgomerie|first=Tim|url=https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2013/01/what-do-rupertmurdoch-and-david-cameron-have-in-common-they-both-love-new-sun-columnist-louisemensch.html|title=What do Rupert Murdoch and David Cameron have in common? They both love new Sun columnist Louise Mensch|work=Conservative Home|date=27 January 2013|access-date=4 January 2018))</ref>

During the [[2015 Labour Party (UK) leadership election|2015 Labour leadership election]], he encouraged readers of the politically conservative ''Daily Telegraph'' to join the Labour party and support [[Jeremy Corbyn]], who Young thought was the weakest candidate.<ref>((cite news|title=Why Tories should join Labour and back Jeremy Corbyn|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11680016/Why-Tories-should-join-Labour-and-back-Jeremy-Corbyn.html|work=Telegraph.co.uk|language=en))</ref>

In February 2020, Young co-founded the [[Free Speech Union]].<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/free-speech-union-fights-twitter-witch-hunts-3sptq65bk|title = Free speech union fights Twitter 'witch‑hunts'|last1 = Simpson|first1 = John))</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>

In 2019, Young supported Boris Johnson for leader of the Conservative Party.<ref>((cite web |last=Young |first=Toby |date=23 July 2019 |title=Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man: A Profile of Boris Johnson |url=https://quillette.com/2019/07/23/cometh-the-hour-cometh-the-man-a-profile-of-boris-johnson/ |website=[[Quillette]]))</ref> In 2020, he said he was wrong to back Boris Johnson for leader of the Conservative Party.<ref>((cite web |last=Young |first=Toby |date=17 September 2020 |title=I admit it: I was wrong to back Boris |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/i-admit-it-i-was-wrong-to-back-boris |website=[[The Spectator]]))</ref> In 2022, he backed Boris for the leader of the Conservative Party again.<ref>((cite web |last=Young |first=Toby |date=20 October 2022 |title=It's Got to be Boris |url=https://dailysceptic.org/2022/10/20/its-got-to-be-boris/ |website=[[The Daily Sceptic]]))</ref> <ref>[http://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/PrisonersofTheBlob.pdf "Prisoners of The Blob: Why most education experts are wrong about nearly everything"], ''Civitas'', April 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2014.</ref> In 2023, the ''[[New Statesman]] named'' Young as the 44th most influential right-wing figure in British politics.<ref>((Cite web |last=Statesman |first=New |date=2023-09-27 |title=The New Statesman's right power list |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/09/the-new-statesmans-right-power-list |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US))</ref>

==Free schools advocate==
Young was a proposer and co-founder of the [[West London Free School]], the first [[Free school (England)|free school]] to sign a [[Guaranteed investment contract|funding agreement]] with the [[Secretary of State for Education|Education Secretary]], and is now a trustee of The West London Free School Academy Trust, the [[charitable trust]] that manages the school.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8401822.stm "Toby Young's battle to set up a new school"], BBC2, 8 December 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2010.</ref><ref>((cite news|last=Harrison |first=Angela |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12622055 |title=Free Schools: Toby Young's is first to get go ahead |work=BBC News |date=2 March 2011 |access-date=14 January 2014))</ref> The school was founded at Palingswick House, which displaced over 20 voluntary organisations previously located there.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jan/17/young-free-school-groups-refugees|title=Free school plan comes at a price for voluntary groups|work=[[The Guardian]]|last=Vasagar|first=Jeevan|date=17 January 2011|access-date=18 April 2020))</ref> He stood down as CEO of the school in May 2016 after admitting that he did not realise how difficult it was going to be to run.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/toby-young-admits-running-a-school-was-harder-than-i-thought-as-he-backs-down-as-free-school-ceo-a7017651.html "Toby Young admits there was more to running a school than he realised"], ''The Independent'', 6 May 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2017.</ref> The national press coverage of the school having four headteachers in the space of six years was linked to the higher profile for the school engendered by its links to Young.<ref>[https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/ex-grammar-school-principal-becomes-latest-head-west-london-free "Ex-grammar school principal becomes latest head of West London Free School"], ''TES'', 28 December 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.</ref>  The trust opened a primary school in [[Hammersmith]] in 2013, a second primary in [[Earls Court]] in 2014 and a third primary in [[Kensington]] in 2016.<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/mar/22/toby-young-clings-on-to-taxpayer-funded-new-schools-network-role|title=Toby Young clings on to taxpayer-funded free schools role|last=Adams|first=Richard|date=22 March 2018|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=3 September 2018))</ref> Young is a follower of the American [[educationalist]] [[E. D. Hirsch]] and an advocate of a traditional, knowledge-based approach to education.

In 2012, Young wrote an article in ''[[The Spectator]]'' criticising the emphasis on "inclusion" in state schools, saying that the word "inclusive" was "one of those ghastly, politically correct words that have survived the demise of [[New Labour]]. Schools have got to be 'inclusive' these days. That means wheelchair ramps, the complete works of [[Alice Walker]] in the school library...".<ref>((cite news|last1=Young|first1=Toby|title=I am living proof that 'two-tier' exams work|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2012/06/i-am-living-proof-that-two-tier-exams-work/|access-date=21 January 2018|work=The Spectator|date=30 June 2012))</ref> Young denied that he was attacking the provision of equal access to mainstream schools for people with disabilities, saying he was only referring to the alleged "dumbing down" of the curriculum.<ref name="Doubts cast">((cite news |last1=Rawlinson |first1=Kevin |last2=Luxmoore |first2 = Sara |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/02/doubts-cast-on-dfe-claims-of-toby-youngs-qualifications-for-watchdog-post |title=Doubts cast on DfE claims of Toby Young's qualifications for watchdog post |work=The Guardian |date=2 January 2018 |access-date=3 January 2018))</ref>

In 2015, the ''[[London Review of Books]]''(('))s cover story for its May 7 issue was an article written by British journalist [[Dawn Foster]] criticising the free school movement. In a letter to the ''[[London Review of Books]]'', Young took issue with Foster's interpretation of free schools data and made claims that were challenged by the author [[Michael Rosen]], journalist [[Melissa Benn]], and education researcher Janet Downs in further letters written to the publication.<ref name=":3">((Cite news|last=Foster|first=Dawn|date=2015-05-06|title=Free Schools|language=en|volume=37|work=London Review of Books|issue=9|url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n09/dawn-foster/free-schools|access-date=2021-12-06|issn=0260-9592))</ref><ref name=":4">((Cite web|date=2015-06-12|title=Dawn Foster demolishing the arguments for free schools in the London Review of Books|url=https://repeaterbooks.com/dawn-foster-demolishing-the-arguments-for-free-schools-in-the-london-review-of-books/|access-date=2021-12-06|website=Repeater Books|language=en-GB))</ref> Foster responded to Young in the ''London Review of Books'' letters refuting Young's criticism and wrote:<blockquote>Creaming off the children of more affluent parents constitutes social segregation; so too does the existence of religious free schools. Young seems to think he is held in high regard by free school advocates. When I mentioned his name in the course of interviewing a former Department for Education employee for the piece, my interviewee headbutted the restaurant table in exasperation. I have found the sentiment, if not the gesture, to be common among his ideological comrades.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /></blockquote>On 29 October 2016, Young was appointed Director of the [[New Schools Network]], a charity founded in 2009 to support groups setting up free schools.<ref>[https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/toby-young-named-director-government-backed-free-schools-charity/ "Toby Young is named director of government-backed free schools charity"], "Times Educational Supplement", 29 October 2016 Retrieved 31 October 2016.</ref> He resigned from this role in March 2018.<ref name="Hazell">((cite news|last=Hazell|first=Will|url=https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/toby-young-resigns-new-schools-network|title=Toby Young resigns from New Schools Network
|work=TES|date=23 March 2018|access-date=23 March 2018))</ref>

==Published works==
In addition to the book ''How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'', Young is the author of ''The Sound of No Hands Clapping'' (2006), ''How to Set Up a Free School'' (2011) and ''What Every Parent Needs to Know: How to Help Your Child Get the Most Out of Primary School'' (2014), which he co-wrote with Miranda Thomas.<ref>((cite news|work=The Guardian | date=August 30, 2014 | title=Review: A reader lost and alienated: Zoe Williams is maddened by a nicey, twee book that's deeply reactionary: What Every Parent Needs to Know: How to Help Your Child Get the Most Out of Primary School by Toby Young and Miranda Thomas| author=Zoe Williams| page=6))</ref>

== Film and television ==
British producer [[Stephen Woolley]] and his wife Elizabeth Karlsen produced the film adaptation ''[[How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (film)|How to Lose Friends & Alienate People]]'' (2008) in conjunction with [[FilmFour]]. Young, who co-produced the film, was played by [[Simon Pegg]].<ref>[http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=19321 "Simon Pegg is Toby Young in How to Lose Friends adaptation"], ''Empire'', 14 August 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2007.</ref> It was released in Britain on 3 October 2008 and reached the number one spot at the box office in its opening week.<ref>[http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article/14765/UK-Box-Office-3-5-October-2008 "UK Box Office: 3–5 October 2008"] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801015532/http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/article/14765/UK-Box-Office-3-5-October-2008 |date=1 August 2010 )), BFI. Retrieved 14 February 2010.</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/oct/06/uk-box-office-invention-lying "Ricky Gervais's clout at the UK box office is no lie"], ''The Guardian'', 6 October 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2010.</ref> The film received mostly negative reviews<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/how_to_lose_friends_and_alienate_people/ |title=How to Lose Friends & Alienate People |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=14 January 2014))</ref> and was a commercial failure, losing over £8 million.<ref name="mojo">((mojo title|id=howtolosefriends|title=How to Lose Friends & Alienate People))</ref>

Young co-produced and co-wrote ''[[When Boris Met Dave]]'' (2009), a drama-documentary for [[Channel 4]] about the relationship between [[Eton College|Eton]] and [[Oxford University]] contemporaries [[Mayor of London|Mayor]] [[Boris Johnson]] and Conservative Party Leader [[Prime Minister|PM]] [[David Cameron]]. It was first broadcast on [[More4]] on 7 October 2009 and later shown on [[Channel 4]].<ref>[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6864947.ece "Last Night's TV"], ''The Times'', 8 October 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2010.</ref>

==Controversies==
((criticism section|section|date=May 2021))
===Eugenics===
In 2015, Young wrote an article for the Australian magazine ''[[Quadrant (magazine)|Quadrant]]'' entitled "The fall of meritocracy". Under a section titled "Progressive eugenics"<ref name="Belam"/> he discussed developments in genetically engineered intelligence,  and  proposed that should the technology for selecting embryos for high intelligence become practicable, it could be provided "free of charge to parents on low incomes with below-average IQs.” He argued this "could help to address the problem of flat-lining inter-generational [[social mobility]] and serve as a counterweight to the tendency for the meritocratic elite to become a hereditary elite," through a mechanism that should be acceptable to political conservatives and also argued that "This is a kind of [[eugenics]] that should appeal to liberals — progressive eugenics."<ref name=":0">((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|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref> Young has maintained that criticism of him as a eugenicist is "based on a deliberate misreading" of the article and that "If 'eugenics' is forced sterilisation, what I was proposing was the opposite — free [[IVF]] for the poor."<ref>((cite journal|author= Toby Young| title= There's nothing neutral about Wikipedia| journal= [[The Spectator]]|url = https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/there-s-nothing-neutral-about-wikipedia|date = 2020-10-30|quote = If it ever becomes possible for couples to cherry-pick embryos in a genetics lab according to which ones are likely to have the highest IQ, that technology should be made available for free on the NHS because otherwise it will enable the rich to give their children an even greater competitive advantage. If ‘eugenics’ is forced sterilisation, what I was proposing was the opposite — free IVF for the poor.|access-date  = 2020-10-30))</ref>

Young attended the [[London Conference on Intelligence]] at [[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|title=Toby Young breeds contempt|work=Private Eye|issue=1461|publisher=Pressdram Ltd|date=January 2018|page=11))</ref><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 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/university-college-london-eugenics-probe-secret-conference-campus-ucl-white-supremacists-debate-lci-a8153326.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=21 January 2018|work=The Independent|date=11 January 2018))</ref> Young said that he attended the conference as a journalist to report about it (which he later did),<ref name="Adams110118"/> in preparation for the "super-respectable" [[International Society for Intelligence Research]] conference in [[Montreal]] in July 2017 at which he gave a speech, which was later published.<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|access-date=11 January 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=http://www.isironline.org/2017-montreal-canada-july-14-16/|work=International Society for Intelligence Research|title=2017: July 14-16 in Montreal|date=28 June 2017|access-date=14 January 2018))</ref><ref name=Breach>((cite news|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/toby-young-once-more-unto-the-breach/|title=Once more unto the breach|work=The Spectator|date=11 January 2018|access-date=12 January 2018))</ref>

===Office for Students===
In January 2018 Young was announced as one of the non-executive members of the board for the new [[Office for Students]] (OfS), a body intended to ensure institutions in higher education are accountable.<ref name="Adams010118"/><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42540363|title=University job backlash because I'm a Tory – Toby Young|work=BBC News|date=2 January 2018|access-date=2 January 2018))</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' later revealed that claims (made not by Young himself, but by the Department for Education) about Young's teaching posts at the [[University of Cambridge]] and [[Harvard University|Harvard]] were misleading as although Young had taught at the universities, he had not been appointed to an academic post.<ref name="Doubts cast" /><ref name="Adams010118"/> The appointment became the subject of controversy when [[Twitter]] posts, described as "misogynistic and homophobic", were uncovered.<ref name=tweets/> He resigned a week later, stating that his appointment had "become a distraction" counteracting the "vital work" of the OfS.<ref name="Rawlinson">((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|access-date=9 January 2018))</ref><ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42617922|title=Toby Young resigns from university regulator|work=BBC News|date=9 January 2018|access-date=9 January 2018))</ref> Shortly afterwards he resigned also as a [[Fulbright Commission]]er.<ref name="Fulb">((cite web|title=Resignation from the Commission ((!)) US-UK Fulbright Commission|url=http://www.fulbright.org.uk/news/resignation-from-the-commission|publisher=[[Fulbright Commission]]|date=9 January 2018|access-date=11 January 2018|language=en))</ref>

An inquiry was launched shortly after Young's resignation by [[Peter Riddell]], the [[Commissioner for Public Appointments]]. Riddell said the OfS panel report to ministers about Young "made no mention of Mr Young’s history of controversial comments and use of social media". The disquiet which followed "makes a strong case for more extensive due diligence inquiries".<ref name="Adams110118">((cite news|last=Adams|first=Richard|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/11/toby-young-office-for-students-appointment-inquiry-launched|title='Serious failing': inquiry to scrutinise Toby Young's OfS appointment|work=The Guardian|date=11 January 2018|access-date=12 January 2018))</ref>

===COVID-19 pandemic===
In March 2020, during the early stages of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]] in the UK, Young wrote in ''The Critic'' that he "suspect[ed] the Government has overreacted to the coronavirus crisis", expressing worry about the "economic cost".<ref name=tn-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people>((Cite news|title=Coronavirus: Fury over Toby Young's claims about elderly people|url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/18347875.coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/|last=Webster|first=Laura|date=31 March 2020|access-date=20 May 2020|work=[[The National (Scotland)|The National]]))</ref> In reference to the modelling of a team at [[Imperial College London]] led by [[Neil Ferguson (epidemiologist)|Neil Ferguson]], he wrote: "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=tn-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/> [[Peter Jukes]] wrote that Young's views could be "outright deadly" in a pandemic; [[Loki (rapper)|Darren McGarvey]] compared Young's views to [[austerity]].<ref name=tn-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/>

Young, who initiated the ''Lockdown Sceptics'' newsletter (now retitled ''[[The Daily Sceptic]]''),<ref>((Cite web |date=2022-07-01 |title=Studies show that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their risks; preprint claiming to show otherwise is flawed |url=https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/studies-benefits-of-covid-19-vaccines-outweigh-risks-preprint-flawed-daily-sceptic/ |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=Health Feedback |language=en-US |quote=An article published by the website The Daily Sceptic, formerly known as Lockdown Sceptics...))</ref> called for stopping the lockdown before 14 April 2020. Saying that he had probably contracted the virus, he wrote that "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=tn-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/> He argued his own death would be "acceptable collateral damage".<ref name=tn-coronavirus-fury-toby-youngs-claims-elderly-people/> Young's view contrasted with the scientific recommendations for lockdown policy in the UK.<ref name=":1">((cite web|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/epidemiology-misinformation-coronavirus-covid19-conspiracy-theory|title=The epidemiology of misinformation|work=[[Prospect (magazine)|Prospect]]|last=Ball|first=Philip|date=19 May 2020|access-date=20 May 2020))</ref>

In June 2020, he wrote that "the virus has all but disappeared".<ref name=guardian-students-quit-free-speech-campaign-over-role-of-toby-young-founded-group>((Cite news|title=Students quit free speech campaign over role of Toby Young-founded group|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/09/students-quit-free-speech-campaign-over-role-of-toby-young-founded-group|last=Bland|first=Archie|date=9 January 2021|access-date=11 January 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]))</ref> In January 2021, he appeared on ''[[Newsnight]],'' and when he was challenged about his comments about the virus, he said: "hands up, I got that wrong" and made arguments against lockdowns.<ref name=guardian-students-quit-free-speech-campaign-over-role-of-toby-young-founded-group/>

On 14 January 2021, the British press regulator [[Independent Press Standards Organisation|IPSO]] ruled that an article Young had written for ''The Daily Telegraph'' in July 2020 was "significantly misleading" and that the newspaper had failed to take care not to publish inaccurate information.<ref name=guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column>((Cite news|title=Daily Telegraph rebuked over Toby Young's Covid column|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/14/daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column|last=Bland|first=Archie|date=15 January 2021|access-date=15 January 2021|work=[[The Guardian]]))</ref><ref name=bbc-toby-young-telegraph-coronavirus-column-significantly-misleading>((Cite news|title=Toby Young: Telegraph coronavirus column 'significantly misleading'|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-55676037|date=15 January 2020|access-date=16 January 2020|work=[[BBC News]]))</ref> In the article, Young claimed that common cold coronaviruses gave people immunity against SARS-CoV-2, and that in July 2020 London had almost achieved herd immunity.<ref name=guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column/><ref name=bbc-toby-young-telegraph-coronavirus-column-significantly-misleading/> Neither claim was supported by scientists at the time.<ref>((Cite web|url=https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings-and-resolution-statements/ruling/?id=11845-20|title = Ruling))</ref><ref name=guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column/><ref name=bbc-toby-young-telegraph-coronavirus-column-significantly-misleading/> IPSO ordered the newspaper to publish a correction.<ref name=guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column/><ref name=bbc-toby-young-telegraph-coronavirus-column-significantly-misleading/> ''The Telegraph'' removed the article from its website and Young deleted many of his tweets about the pandemic.<ref name=guardian-daily-telegraph-rebuked-over-toby-youngs-herd-immunity-covid-column/>

''The Daily Sceptic'' has promoted [[COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy|misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines]].((refn|<ref>((Cite web |date=2021-10-11 |title=Teen deaths up since last year, but no evidence vaccines responsible |url=https://fullfact.org/health/daily-sceptic-56-percent-rise-teen-deaths/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=[[Full Fact]] |language=en))</ref><ref>((Cite web |date=2022-09-19 |title=The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective; claim that they have caused an "international medical crisis" is baseless |url=https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/covid-19-vaccines-safe-and-effective-claim-they-have-caused-international-medical-crisis-baseless-oan-daily-sceptic/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Health Feedback |language=en-US))</ref><ref>((Cite news |date=2022-09-19 |title=Fact Check-Vaccine-effectiveness study does not show 'negative immunity' or harm to the immune system |language=en |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-covidvaccine-nejm-study-idUSL1N30N1GB |access-date=2022-12-30))</ref><ref>((Cite web |last=Payne |first=Ed |date=September 29, 2022 |title=Fact Check: Oxford Study Does NOT Say COVID Vaccination Increases Infection Risk by 44% -- Figure Is From Study Subsection Only |url=https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2022/09/fact-check-vaccination-increases-infection-risk-by-44-oxford-study-finds-the-daily-sceptic.html |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=[[Lead Stories]] |language=en-US))</ref><ref>((Cite web |date=2022-12-13 |title=No, a German "autopsy report" didn't show COVID-19 vaccines as "likely" cause of sudden deaths |url=https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/german-autopsy-report-didnt-covid-19-vaccines-likely-cause-sudden-deaths/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Health Feedback |language=en-US))</ref><ref>((Cite web |last=Jaramillo |first=Catalina |date=2022-12-21 |title=Autopsy Study Doesn't Show COVID-19 Vaccines Are Unsafe |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2022/12/scicheck-autopsy-study-doesnt-show-covid-19-vaccines-are-unsafe/ |access-date=2022-12-30 |website=[[FactCheck.org]] |language=en-US))</ref>)) In September 2022, [[PayPal]] shut down the accounts of Young, the [[Free Speech Union]] and ''The Daily Sceptic'' website. The accounts were closed because of breaches of PayPal's acceptable use policy, thought to be because of alleged misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.<ref>((cite news |author=James Beal |date=22 September 2022 |title=PayPal Free Speech Union accounts shut over Covid 'misinformation' |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/paypal-free-speech-union-accounts-shut-over-covid-misinformation-90bzf2b2g |access-date=2022-09-23 |issn=0140-0460 |via=))</ref> The accounts were restored later that month after extensive criticism of PayPal's actions by MPs.<ref>((cite news |last1=Diver |first1=Tony |last2=Bodkin |first2=Henry |title=PayPal reinstates Free Speech Union accounts after being accused of 'politically motivated' ban |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/09/27/paypal-reinstates-free-speech-union-accounts-accused-politically/ |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=[[Daily Telegraph]] |date=27 September 2022))</ref>

== Personal life ==
Before getting married, Young employed a Russian "daily" whom he later described as "a kind of surrogate mother". Young has since complained about the difficulty of finding reliable domestic staff.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/03/the-daily-i-miss-every-day/|title=The daily I miss every day|work=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=5 September 2018))</ref>

In 1997, Young met Caroline Bondy while living in New York.<ref>((Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/8489847/Toby-Young-British-women-are-the-best.html|title=Toby Young: British women are the best|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=8 May 2011|access-date=5 September 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235))</ref> After they split up, Young gave up drinking, saying he "thought the only way I could persuade her to get back with me would be if I sobered up". He began drinking alcohol again two years later, on their wedding day in July 2001.<ref>((cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/03/healthandwellbeing|title=My body & soul: Toby Young, writer, 44|date=2 August 2008|website=The Guardian))</ref> They have four children.<ref>((cite news|last=Young|first=Toby|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/8489847/Toby-Young-British-women-are-the-best.html|title=Toby Young: British women are the best|work=The Sunday Telegraph|location=London|date=8 May 2011|access-date=8 December 2015))</ref>

Young has admitted using illegal drugs – specifically taking [[cocaine]] at the [[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|access-date=4 January 2018))</ref> and also supplying drugs to others. He was subsequently expelled from membership of the Club in late 2001 for writing about the cocaine use of his friends whom he had supplied with the drug during a 1997 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|access-date=4 January 2018))</ref> Such activities are against Club rules.<ref name="Milner"/>

== On social media ==
Young has come under criticism for comments he made on [[Twitter]], most of which were deleted upon his appointment to the Board of the Office for Students. Young said that he posted more than 56,000 tweets, of which 8,439 remained as at January 2018.<ref name=tweets/>

These included what an ''[[Evening Standard]]'' editorial called "an obsession with commenting on the anatomy of women in the public eye".<ref>((cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/evening-standard-comment-there-s-method-behind-trump-s-twitter-war-a3730851.html|title=Evening Standard comment: There's method behind Trump's Twitter war|work=London Evening Standard|date=3 January 2018|access-date=3 January 2018))</ref> He referred on [[Twitter]] to the cleavage of unnamed female MPs sitting behind [[Ed Miliband]] in the Commons in 2011 and 2012. When later challenged by [[Stella Creasy]] on ''[[Newsnight]]'' he said of the second such incident: "It wasn't my proudest moment".<ref>((cite news|last=Kentish|first=Ben|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/toby-young-theresa-may-university-appointment-labour-demand-reverse-decision-a8138906.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/toby-young-theresa-may-university-appointment-labour-demand-reverse-decision-a8138906.html |archive-date=21 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Labour demands Theresa May reverse Toby Young appointment due to his 'misogyny and homophobia'|work=The Independent|date=3 January 2018|access-date=3 January 2018))</ref><ref name="Belam">((cite web|last=Belam|first=Martin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/03/toby-young-quotes-on-breasts-eugenics-and-working-class-people|title=Toby Young quotes on breasts, eugenics and working-class people|work=The Guardian|date=3 January 2018|access-date=3 January 2018))</ref> Other remarks included slurs described as [[homophobic]], including a claim that [[George Clooney]] is "as [[queer]] as a coot".<ref name="PinkNews">((Cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/01/02/governments-new-university-regulator-appointee-called-lesbians-hard-core-dykes|title=Government's new university watchdog appointee called lesbians 'hard-core dykes'|work=PinkNews|access-date=3 January 2018))</ref><ref>((cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/05/ditch-toby-young-from-watchdog-board-top-labour-figures-tell-may|title=Ditch Toby Young from watchdog board, top Labour figures tell May|first=Kevin|last=Rawlinson|newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 January 2018|via=www.theguardian.com))</ref>

One tweet by Young was in response to a BBC [[Comic Relief]] appeal in 2009 for starving Kenyan children.<ref>((cite news|last=Grove|first=Jack|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/toby-young-quits-office-students-board-after-mps-debate|title=Toby Young quits Office for Students board after MPs' debate|work=Times Higher Education|date=9 January 2018|access-date=9 January 2018))</ref> During the broadcast, a Twitter user commented that she had "gone through about 5 boxes of kleenex" whilst watching. Toby Young replied: "Me too, I ((sic|havn't)) wanked so much in ages".<ref name="Kentish">((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|access-date=9 January 2018))</ref> He has expressed remorse for his "politically incorrect" tweets.<ref>((cite news|title=Toby Young regrets 'politically incorrect' comments|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42552884 |work=BBC News|date=3 January 2018|access-date=5 January 2018))</ref>

Young is reported to have edited his own [[Wikipedia]] page 282 times over the course of six years.<ref name="Booth">((cite news|last=Booth|first=Robert|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/05/why-impulsive-vain-toby-young-wants-us-to-take-him-seriously|title=Why 'impulsive, vain' Toby Young wants us to take him seriously|work=The Guardian|date=5 January 2018|access-date=5 January 2018))</ref><ref name="Scrapbook">((cite web|url=https://politicalscrapbook.net/2013/09/toby-young-has-edited-his-own-wikipedia-page-200-times-in-six-years/|title=Toby Young Has Edited His Own Wikipedia Page More Than 200 Times in the Last Six Years|work=Political Scrapbook|date=5 January 2013|access-date=5 January 2018))</ref> In October 2020, he wrote an article in ''The Spectator'' criticising "lazy journalists [for whom] Wikipedia is the only thing they read when 'researching' an article" and stating that "Wikipedia has a strong left-wing bias — which might explain why the page about me reads as if it's been written by [[Owen Jones]]."<ref>((cite journal|author= Toby Young| title= There's nothing neutral about Wikipedia| journal= [[The Spectator]]|url = https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/there-s-nothing-neutral-about-wikipedia|date = 2020-10-30|access-date  = 2020-10-30))</ref>

== References ==
((Reflist|30em))

==External links==
((commons category|Toby Young))
((wikiquote))
* ((official|http://www.nosacredcows.co.uk/))
* ((IMDb name|id=1732322|name=Toby Young))
* [http://www.spectator.co.uk/author/toby-young/ Articles] in ''[[The Spectator]]''.

((Top Chef))
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((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Young, Toby))
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British educational theorists]]
[[Category:British Eurosceptics]]
[[Category:British male journalists]]
[[Category:British theatre critics]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) people]]
[[Category:Founders of English schools and colleges]]
[[Category:New York Press people]]
[[Category:People educated at Fortismere School]]
[[Category:People educated at William Ellis School]]
[[Category:The Spectator editors]]
[[Category:Sons of life peers]]
[[Category:COVID-19 misinformation]]
[[Category:Judges in American reality television series]]

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