Andrew Sabisky once suggested that “legally enforced contraception” should be used to “get around the problems of unplanned pregnancies, creating a permanent underclass”. It was a comment made in 2014, not on the dark web or somewhere difficult to find, but on the very website of Boris Johnson’s chief special adviser Dominic Cummings. That same year, Sabisky argued that black Americans were more likely to suffer from “intellectual disability” as “a consequence of the normal distribution of cognitive ability”, and appeared to endorse eugenics. He also tweeted that women’s sport is “more comparable to the Paralympics than it is to men’s”, and used Reddit to dole out advice on rape fantasies. Sabisky was hired as a “super-forecaster” by the government, but quit last night. Far from an apologetic resignation, he attributed the reaction to his past comments to “media hysteria” and “selective quoting”.

This was no mistake by 10 Downing Street. The hire followed a call, put out on Cummings’ blog, for “weirdos and misfits” to apply for new No 10 jobs. Sabisky was exactly the kind of employee being sought. During the Monday lobby briefing, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson refused 32 times to comment on the views expressed by Sabisky or say whether Johnson agreed with them. “The Prime Minister’s views are well-publicised and well-documented,” was the only response offered. Well, there’s plenty of racism, misogyny and hatred of the poor to be found there, too. Not that any of those well-documented views have damaged Johnson’s chances of success in politics. Quite the opposite, perhaps: he’s so admirably honest and normal!

In a shameless U-turn, the government is now willing to describe the comments as “racist” and a minister did so this morning, before urging everyone to “move on” from the story. Labour may want to portray these events as not only exposing the prevalence of vile views at the heart of government, but also revealing a competency issue. After all, in the end, Sabisky had to go. But Cummings has achieved something already. This will be held up by the right as yet another example of unfair ‘cancel culture’, which sees ‘liberal elite’ lobby journalists with too much power stamp all over freedom of speech. Labour needs a robust plan for dealing with this discourse, and soon. Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for everything Labour, every weekday morning.