Sir Roger Scruton dead: Philosopher and government adviser dies aged 75

Author of more than 50 books was diagnosed with cancer six months ago

Sir Roger devoted much of his life to aesthetics – the branch of philosophy devoted to beauty and taste - and political philosophy (Getty)

Sir Roger Scruton, one of the country’s most prominent conservative philosophers, has died aged 75.

The government housing adviser and author of around 50 books died on Sunday after being diagnosed with cancer six months ago.

Last month he wrote: “Coming close to death you begin to know what life means, and what it means is gratitude.”

A statement on Sir Roger’s personal website said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Sir Roger Scruton, FBA, FRSL.

“Beloved husband of Sophie, adored father to Sam and Lucy and treasured brother of Elizabeth and Andrea, he died peacefully on Sunday 12 January.

“He was born on 27 February 1944 and had been fighting cancer for the last 6 months. His family are hugely proud of him and of all his achievements.”

Sir Roger devoted much of his life to aesthetics – the branch of philosophy devoted to beauty and taste – as well as moral and political philosophy with a particular focus on traditional conservatism, publishing books including The Meaning of Conservatism in 1980 and working on the BBC series Why Beauty Matters in 2009.

He also served as the editor of conservative journal the Salisbury Review from 1982 to 2001, as well as contributing to publications including The Times, The Telegraph, and The Spectator, and serving as a lecturer of aesthetics at Birkbeck University from 1971 to 1992.

In 2018 he was mired in controversy after being fired as chair of the government’s new Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission – an initiative to promote better home design – following comments in a New Statesmen interview in which he appeared to make a series of controversial statements and repeat an antisemitic trope.

But the publication was later forced to apologise for removing context from his comments, while his claim of the existence of a “Soros empire in Hungary” – presented as an invocation of holocaust survivor George Soros in a manner often used in an antisemitic fashion – were later clarified.

In its apology the New Statesmen said: “Sir Roger is quoted accurately in the article: ‘Anybody who doesn’t think there’s a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts’. However, the article did not include the rest of Sir Roger’s statement that ‘it’s not necessarily an empire of Jews; that’s such nonsense’.

Despite anger over the interview bringing to light previous articles and writings in which he had claimed Islamophobia was a “propaganda word” and that “although homosexuality has been normalised, it is not normal”, Sir Roger was reappointed to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission as co-chair in one of Theresa May’s last acts as prime minister.

Then-housing secretary James Brokenshire apologised to Sir Roger, writing in The Spectator he regretted dismissing the intellectual over what was a “clearly partial report of your thoughts”.

Speaking about the sacking, Sir Roger later told BBC Radio 4: “I’m a conservative thinker, well known as such, outspoken but reasonable in my view, and there’s been throughout this country and throughout Europe really this attempt to silence the conservative voice.

“We get identified, caricatured and then demonised and made to look as though we are some kind of sinister racist, fascist kind of people.”

Paying tribute, Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said on Twitter: “The country has lost a towering intellect. I have lost a wonderful friend.”