
Conservative academic Sir Roger Scruton has been sacked as head of a government housing body following critical comments about Islam and China.
The philosopher's appointment to head the Building Beautiful Commission in November was criticised at the time.
He has now been dismissed after claiming Islamophobia was "a propaganda word" and "each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one".
The Ministry of Housing said the remarks were "unacceptable".
Sir Roger left his position "with immediate effect" after an interview with the New Statesman in which he restated past comments about Islamophobia, and Jewish financier and philanthropist George Soros.
He said that "anybody who doesn't think that there's a Soros empire in Hungary has not observed the facts" while he said China was "creating robots out of their own people" which he said was a "frightening thing".
He said he stood by comments he has made in the past that Islamophobia was a "propaganda word invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue".
The Conservatives have been accused of failing to act over Islamophobia in the party.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire defended Sir Roger at the time of his appointment amid claims his views made him unsuitable for the job, saying many of the attacks on him were "misinformed and ill-judged".
A government spokesman said on Wednesday: "Sir Roger Scruton has been dismissed as Chairman of the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission with immediate effect, following his unacceptable comments."