In April 2019, Brokenshire sacked philosopher Sir Roger Scruton from his unpaid role as chair of the British government's "Building Better, Building Beautiful" Commission. The sacking followed the publication of an interview with Scruton by George Eaton in the New Statesman magazine, in which Eaton had suggested that Scruton had made unsavoury remarks. A series of online comments from Eaton suggested that he had set out to present Scruton, a former contributor to the New Statesman, in a poor light. Following a campaign from Douglas Murray of the Spectator, the tapes of the interview were eventually leaked, which prompted the New Statesman to publish a correction of its original article and an apology. Brokenshire apologised to Scruton for his sacking and invited him to rejoin the Commission.