Tag: Ministry of Housing

The government has sacked its housing adviser Roger Scruton after he appeared to repeat antisemitic statements and denied Islamophobia was a problem. Scruton also said: “Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims”, and accused the Chinese of “creating robots out of their own people”. Scruton’s sacking follows Labour-led calls for his dismissal. Last month the party suspended 14 members for allegedly making Islamophobic comments after a string of abusive posts were uncovered on social media. His comments are clearly distracting from the important work of the commission and so it is no longer right for him to act as a government adviser.” Earlier, the ministry said: “It’s very clear from the interview Prof Sir Roger Scruton is not speaking for the government.” Would you trust Roger Scruton to design your new home? Read more The interview prompted Labour to repeat its call from five months ago for Scruton to be sacked after it emerged that he had described Jews in Budapest as part of a “Soros empire”. Dawn Butler, the shadow equalities secretary, said Scruton’s new comments were “despicable and invoke the language of white supremacists”. She added: “His claim that Islamophobia does not exist, a few weeks after the devastating attack in Christchurch, is extremely dangerous.” When Labour first called for Scruton’s dismissal, Brokenshire defended him as a “champion of freedom of speech”. The government should also strip him of his knighthood.” Tell Mama, the anti-bigotry campaign, welcomed Scruton’s dismissal but raised questions about why he had been appointed in the first place. A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: “As the Conservative party faces its latest crisis on Islamophobia, it cannot continue with false promises to take the issue seriously … The reality is that these concerns will continue to recur until trust is rebuilt through – in part – an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the party.”