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Theresa May has condemned a new Tory students' tsar after he was accused of posting a sexual joke about starving kids - but has refused to sack him.

The alleged tweet by Toby Young would be just the latest in a litany of outrageous and sexist posts that were uncovered after he joined the Office for Students board.

Yet today the Prime Minister praised his "good work" setting up free schools - and said he'll be given another chance.

"Frankly I’m not at all impressed by those comments," she told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

But she said: "He's now in public office. As far as I'm concerned, if he was to continue to use that sort of language and talk in that sort of way, he would no longer be in public office."

She added: "He’s apologised."

It comes after a blog and the Mail on Sunday unearthed a fresh sick tweet, allegedly by Mr Young, about starving children featured on Comic Relief.

According to the newspaper, he joked about being sexually aroused by the African kids in the tweet - which threatens to derail his new role.

The post from 2009 came when Simon Cowell was filmed in Kenya with children scavenging from a rubbish dump to survive.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The pop mogul called it “hell on Earth”.

A female Twitter user tweeted she had “gone through 5 boxes of Kleenex” watching the harrowing scenes.

Minutes later, just after midnight, Young is alleged to have tweeted: “Me Too, I havn't [sic] w***** so much in ages.”

Mr Young told The Mail on Sunday he had “no recollection” of posting the tweet, a screengrab of which exists online.

He admitted he had been a "provocative journalist" for 30 years, whose stock in trade was saying "controversial, sometimes outrageous things" and that it was unsurprising people were able to "dredge up" material to embarrass him.

The right-wing columnist has joked about "hard-core dykes", complained school wheelchair ramps were "ghastly inclusivity" and appeared to say of a woman: "I had my d*** up her a***."

(Image: Twitter)

(Image: Twitter)

But he insisted he was a changed man, saying: "I’m a more serious person now," and added he spent three months in Kenya in 2013 to help a friend who was trying to establish a primary school.

Tory MPs and ministers have joined the backlash over Mr Young's £459-a-day job as one of 15 board members of the newly-founded Office For Students.

Questions were raised over his qualifications for the role.

He was appointed by Universities Minister Jo Johnson, whose brother Boris helped Mr Young's career by serving as his editor on the Spectator magazine.

Boris Johnson has made a bombastic defence of Mr Young and his "caustic wit".

Number 10 sources last night said Mrs May found his online postings "distasteful", yet they'd wait for a repeat before sacking him.

But Tory MP Nicky Morgan warned "many people will find it hard to understand” how he could have the job, adding: "There must be someone else better suited to the position.”

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "These tweets are disgusting, offensive, sexist. She should show leadership and get rid of him."

A Downing Street source told the Mail on Sunday: "Toby Young has a great record in setting up free schools.

"However, the Prime Minister was not aware of these tweets when she appointed him and, like most people, sees them as distasteful.

"Now he has a public role, any repeat of those kinds of comments would be clearly incompatible with that position."

The Mirror has contacted Mr Young for comment.