LONDON: A petition calling for Toby Young to be sacked from the universities regulator has gathered more than 200,000 signatures.

The Change.org petition passed the milestone as a former Labour MP who was the subject of one of his controversial tweets joined calls for him to be removed.

Pamela Nash said it was “beyond belief” that Young had been appointed to the board of the Office for Students (OfS) and urged the government to sack him “immediately.”

Young has faced growing calls to resign over his record of Twitter postings - including multiple references to women’s breasts.

The petition, which says Young is “entirely unqualified” for the watchdog role, has twice the number required for a cause to be raised in the House of Commons when organised through Parliament’s system.

Theresa May was forced to address criticism over his appointment on Sunday and said she had been unaware of Young’s history of crude and sexist comments.

The Prime Minister warned him that he will be removed if he makes any more offensive Twitter postings.

However, Nash said his unsuitability for the role went beyond “the odd tweet or stray comment.”

She told The Guardian: “It is beyond belief that he has been appointed to the board of the Office of Students when he thinks so little of the majority of those who seek a university education.”

Appearing on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, May said she was “not impressed” by the comments and that any repeat would not be tolerated.