A newly appointed Downing Street adviser has announced his resignation amid criticism over controversial past comments.
Government adviser, Andrew Sabisky, suggested black Americans have a lower average IQ than white citizens and labelled public outcry over female genital mutilation a ‘moral panic’.
Sabisky also said that ‘women’s sport is more comparable to the Paralympics than it is to men’s’ and reportedly advocated legally enforcing the uptake of contraception to stop unplanned pregnancies ‘creating a permanent underclass’.
Boris Johnson is under growing pressure to sack Mr Sabisky, 27, who was apparently drafted in to Number 10 after the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings called for ‘misfits and weirdos’ to apply to advise the government.
Downing Street repeatedly refused to condemn the remarks this morning.
The Prime Minister’s deputy official spokesman said: ‘I am not going to be commenting on individual appointments.’
Asked whether Mr Johnson condemned the comments, the deputy spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister’s views are well publicised and documented.’
Downing Street also would not confirm whether Mr Sabisky was actually working in Number 10 but this afternoon reports suggested he has been employed as a contractor as a forecaster, covering defence and other policy areas.
The Financial Times said Mr Sabisky, a self-described ‘super-forecaster’, had been in Number 10 for a ‘couple of days’ but is currently in America.
It came as a photograph of Mr Sabisky in front of the famous black door emerged on Twitter with the caption: ‘Number 10 Downing Street lads!’
A picture published on Twitter by Michael Story (pictured middle) on January 17 of this year showed Andrew Sabisky (pictured left) stood in front of the famous black door of Number 10
Mr Sabisky, a researcher who describes himself as a ‘super-forecaster’, has been criticised for previous remarks after he was appointed as an adviser to the government
Boris Johnson, pictured at a meeting of the Cabinet on Friday, is now under growing pressure to sack Mr Sabisky
Tory MPs criticised the governmental silence today, with former immigration minister Caroline Nokes tweeting: ‘Cannot believe No 10 has refused to comment on Andrew Sabisky.
‘I don’t know him from a bar of soap, but don’t think we’d get on ……. must be no place in Government for the views he’s expressed.’
Writing on Mr Cummings’ website in 2014, Mr Sabisky said: ‘One way to get around the problems of unplanned pregnancies creating a permanent underclass would be to legally enforce universal uptake of long-term contraception at the onset of puberty.
‘Vaccination laws give it a precedent, I would argue.’
In another post being circulated on social media, Mr Sabisky claimed black people had lower IQs than white people.
In the article, entitled ‘Disabilities by race’ he reportedly said: ‘If the mean black American IQ is (best estimate based on a century’s worth of data) around 85, as compared to a mean white American IQ of 100, then if IQ is normally distributed, you will see a far greater percentage of blacks than whites in the range of IQs 75 or below, at which point we are close to the typical boundary for mild mental retardation.’
On the issue of FGM, he reportedly wrote: ‘It is still unclear to what extent FGM represents a serious risk to young girls, raised in the UK, of certain minority group origins. Much of the hue and cry looks more like a moral panic.’
He also once tweeted that former defence secretaries Penny Mordaunt and Gavin Williamson – both now back in government – were ‘proper morons’.
Ian Lavery, the chairman of the Labour Party, said: ‘It is disgusting that not only has Number 10 failed to condemn Andrew Sabisky’s appalling comments, but also seems to have endorsed the idea that white people are more intelligent than black people.
‘Boris Johnson should have the backbone to make a statement in his own words on why he has made this appointment, whether he stands by it, and his own views on the subject of eugenics.’
A photograph of Mr Sabisky standing in front of Number 10 Downing Street has emerged on Twitter.
The photo was published by fellow ‘super-forecaster’ Michael Story on January 17 of this year. It showed Mr Sabisky alongside Mr Story and Thomas Liptay.
Mr Story and Mr Liptay are both co-founders of an app designed to improve the accuracy of forecasts.
Geneticist Dr Adam Rutherford criticised the comments made by Mr Sabisky, writing on Twitter: ‘Like Cummings, he appears to be bewitched by science, without having made the effort to understand the areas he is invoking, nor it’s history.’
He said the ‘moral repugnance’ of the remarks was ‘overwhelming’, adding: ‘I am all for scientifically minded people advising government. In fact I am all for scientists advising government. From this perspective, Sabisky and indeed Cummings look bewitched by science without doing the legwork.
‘Instead this resembles the marshalling of misunderstood or specious science into a political ideology. The history here is important, because this process is exactly what happened at the birth of scientific racism and the birth of eugenics.’
New government adviser Mr Sabisky also made the above controversial comment on women’s sport
It has been reported that some government special advisers are prepared to boycott meetings where Mr Sabisky is present and are also planning to refuse to reply to any emails he sends.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said it was a ‘matter for Dominic Cummings and Number 10’ when asked about the remarks on Sky News.
On Sunday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the BBC: ‘I don’t know the individual but they are particularly not views that I or the Government shares in any way, shape or form.’
Asked if Mr Shapps had been speaking for the government, the PM’s deputy spokesman said: ‘He was speaking as the Transport Secretary.’