I’m declaring war on ugly architecture

This speech by John Hayes, the transport minister, was first delivered on October 31

Politicians speak a lot and sometimes they speak sense. Too rarely they challenge orthodox assumptions and more rarely still take action to turn back tides. This evening I will challenge an orthodoxy, and give notice to the determinist doubters and defenders of the indefensible that, during my time as Minister of State for Transport, in respect of the built environment, I will turn the tide.

My case is bold, controversial, and, to some, provocative. Yet the view I will articulate here is widely shared; sometimes falteringly, even guiltily. But shared nonetheless. For me the core of my case is startlingly obvious. Yet it is rarely put and, when put, often derided.

The rarity with which the case for beauty is articulated is explained partly by timidity, and partly by unwillingness to challenge modernist determinism; by the surrender of many decent people to the Whiggish notion that the future is bound to be better than now and, in any case, there isn’t much we can do about altering it.