James Brokenshire has been keeping a low profile since the controversial sacking of Roger Scruton three weeks ago. But now the Housing Secretary has finally been taken to task for his handling of the row. Brokenshire sacked Scruton from his unpaid government role within hours of the publication of an interview in which Scruton was accused of making a ‘series of outrageous remarks’. As Douglas Murray details in this week’s magazine, the truth about what Scruton said was rather different.
WATCH: James Brokenshire, Housing Secretary, tells me the situation around the sacking of Sir Roger Scruton "could have been handled differently"… He can say that again…. pic.twitter.com/dcY7ZT4LDr
On LBC, Brokenshire was asked by Iain Dale whether he regretted sacking Scruton:
‘It is just that regret I have. I have a huge amount of respect and acknowledgement for Sir Roger’s focus on aesthetics. He is a leader in his field.’
ID: Shouldn’t you have spoken to him at the time when you sacked him?
I think, with hindsight, I look back on the handling of this and, yes, we could have done things differently. And that is something I do acknowledge. It is difficult. I am very saddened by the whole situation as to how this has occurred. And I very firmly thank and recognise all of the work that Sir Roger has done on this.
If Defence Secretary John Healey didn’t have an anxious and unsettled weekend, he should have done. The Ministry of Defence once again has serious questions to answer over equipment, this time the F-35 strike aircraft programme, the cutting edge of the Royal Air Force’s offensive capabilities. It is a political commonplace that our executive faces
Comments