British philosopher Roger Scruton has returned to the role of chair of the Building Better Building Beautiful housing commission, a role he was sacked from earlier this year.
In one of her last actions as the UK's prime minister, Theresa May offered Scruton his role as chair back on the commission, which is setting out guidelines for architects and developers on house building.
Scruton was sacked by the housing secretary James Brokenshire in April 2019 following "unacceptable" antisemetic and racist comments the chair made in an interview with the New Statesman, which he claimed were taken out of context.
"All has been resolved in a friendly way"
In an exchange published in the Spectator, Brokenshire wrote to Scruton asking if he would like to be re-appointed to the role and co-chair the commission with the interim chair Nicholas Boys Smith. "I know that you still have so much more to give and hope this may also help to put things right after the regrettable events of recent months," said the housing secretary.
Scruton accepted the role of co-chair, writing that he was "so pleased that all has been resolved in a friendly way" and expressing his desire to "return to the matter in hand, which is so important".
The Building Better Building Beautiful commission was launched in November 2018 with the aim of addressing the UK's housing crisis by improving the quality of developments in the planning pipeline.
Scruton to continue c...