Philosopher Scruton sacked from role as government adviser

0 Sir Roger Scruton dismissed for ‘unacceptable’ comments Sir Roger Scruton has been sacked from his post as a government adviser after he sparked fresh controversy with “unacceptable” comments on Islamophobia.

The philosopher was dismissed as a housing tsar with immediate effect, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed.

A ministry spokeswoman said: “Professor Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments.”

The government dismissed calls to fire the academic as a housing adviser last November after it emerged Sir Roger had said Islamophobia was a “propaganda word” and described homosexuality as “not normal”.

Sir Roger came under renewed criticism after commenting on the controversy.

The New Statesman America quoted Sir Roger as repeating his claim that Islamophobia was a propaganda word “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue”.

Sir Roger said it was “nonsense” for critics to accuse Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban of anti-semitism or Islamophobia.

He said: “The Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East.”

Referring to philanthropist George Soros, Sir Roger said: “Anybody who doesn’t think that there’s a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts.”