A government housing advisor who was sacked in a row over “unacceptable” comments has got his job back, it has been confirmed.
Sir Roger Scruton has been rehired as Chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission hours before Boris Johnson is set to be named Tory leader.
It comes after Mr Johnson offered to re-hire Sir Roger Scruton, who was fired in April over an interview he gave to the New Statesman magazine.
Leadership rival Jeremy Hunt also declared he would re-hire the former advisor.
During the April interview the philosopher stood by his description of Islamophobia as a “propaganda word”, claiming it was “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue which we are all worried about.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Sir Roger also made other comments about China and whether there was a “Soros empire” in Hungary.
But after a furious row, the magazine admitted the way the interview was edited and promoted did not “accurately represent” Sir Roger’s full thinking – including on China and Hungary.
The New Statesman later published a full transcript and an apology to the right-wing thinker.
Mr Johnson told a Tory hustings in Cheltenham: “I think it was disgraceful, the Roger Scruton episode.
“And I think he should be, if he is willing to serve again… he should be restored.”
Sir Roger, who was sacked as Chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission in April, has a string of previous controversial comments to his name.
Defending himself in April, he wrote: “I think of ‘homophobia’ as a similar word [to Islamophobia], designed to close all debate about a matter in which only one view is now deemed permissible.
“Apparently I once wrote that homosexuality is ‘not normal’, but nobody has told me where, or why that is a particularly offensive thing to say.
“Red hair too is not normal, nor is decency among left-wing journalists.”
