You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Philosopher sacked from government commission after ‘unacceptable comments’
Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as chair of the government’s commission on architectural standards after “unacceptable comments”.
The conservative philosopher will leave his position “with immediate effect”, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) told Inside Housing.
Sir Roger was chair of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which was set up in November last year to “raise the level of debate regarding the importance of beauty” in new housing.
His dismissal was apparently prompted by a series of offensive comments made in an interview with the New Statesman.
READ MORE
On the rise of China, he told the magazine: “They’re creating robots out of their own people… each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing.”
Asked about his past comments on Jews, he said: “Anybody who doesn’t think that there’s a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts,” repeating an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about the Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros.
In the interview he also defended his friend, the far-right prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, from accusations of Islamophobia, saying: “The Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East.”
He added that Islamophobia was a propaganda word “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue”.
The MHCLG spokesperson said: “Professor Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as chairman of the [Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission] with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments.
“A new chair will be appointed by the secretary of state, to take this important work forward, in due course.”
Ben Derbyshire, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), said: “Professor Sir Roger Scruton’s comments were completely unacceptable and it was right for the government to dismiss him as chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission. At RIBA we also argue for better building quality but our doubts about the impartiality of this commission were clearly justified.
“Time and effort have been wasted and we should now move on from stylistic obsessions to the issues that lie at the heart of solving the housing crisis. The government must focus on the real priority here: ensuring that all communities benefit from high quality homes and well-designed neighbourhoods.”
When the commission was set up, Sir Roger’s appointment was heavily criticised, with many saying that his views on Jews, homosexuality (which he described as “not normal”) and date rape (about which he said there was “no such crime”) made him unsuitable for the position.
At the time, housing secretary James Brokenshire defended him in parliament, saying: “Professor Sir Roger Scruton is a global authority on aesthetics and was knighted for services to philosophy, teaching and public education in 2016. He is one of the country’s leading living philosophers.
“His commitment to promoting beauty in the built environment is well known and he has published extensively on the subject. He was an advisor to the coalition government on design.
“As an advisory appointment, due diligence checks were carried out and considered prior to Sir Roger Scruton’s selection as unpaid chair. With his experience and commitment to this important agenda, Sir Roger Scruton is the right person to chair the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.”
