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Andrew Sabisky
New No 10 adviser resigns after facing criticism over race and contraception remarks
Andrew Sabisky announced that he would resign in order to avoid being “a distraction” to Boris Johnson’s government.
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A NEWLY APPOINTED advisor in 10 Downing Street has resigned from his role after UK Prime Minister came under repeated pressure to sack him for controversial, historical remarks made about race and contraception.
Andrew Sabisky was drafted in to Number 10 after the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings called for “misfits and weirdos” to apply to advise the government.
Writing on Cummings’ website in 2014, 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,” he added.
He also suggested black Americans have a lower average IQ than white Americans.
This evening, Sabisky announced that he would resign in order to avoid being “a distraction”, and because he felt he wouldn’t be able to do his job properly under that level of scrutiny.
In a post on Twitter, he said:
The media hysteria about my old stuff online is mad but I wanted to help HMG not be a distraction. Accordingly I’ve decided to resign as a contractor. I hope No 10 hires more people with good geopolitical forecasting track records and that media learn to stop selective quoting.
I know this will disappoint a lot of people but I signed up to do real work, not be in the middle of a giant character assassination: if I can’t do the work properly there’s no point, and I have a lot of other things to do with my life.
Just before Sabisky’s resignation, a Tory backbencher William Wragg tweeted:
Andrew Sabisky’s presence in No 10 is a poor reflection on the Govt and there is no way to defend it. He needs to go. ‘Weirdos’ and ‘misfits’ are all very well, but please can they not gratuitously cause offence.
“I cannot be the only one uncomfortable with recent No 10 trends.”
Last week, Johnson sacked a number of his ministers, including Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith, and replaced them with figures seen to be more loyal to Johnson.
His Chancellor Sajid Javid resigned after Johnson said he would keep Javid only if he sacked all his advisors.
- with reporting from the Press Association
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