Effie Deans on Meritocratic Sunak and Progressive Britain

The proliferation of new independent media is a phenomenon to celebrate. The idea of a media pluralism is actually the DNA of Bella, so too is casting a critical eye over the corporate media. While blogs come and go (lols) – the distinction between old and new media is getting hazier. The previous apparent binary division between ‘independent’ and ‘mainstream’ media is more shades of grey than black and white with Substack and Medium and a hundred others providing a bridge for freelancers and writers.

The new-right has made as much, if not arguably more from this publishing revolution which stems from the late 1990s than the left. But we’re now in a space where the existing traditional right-wing media is drawing on the crazier outlier wing of its own political cadre. Witness Effie Deans ascension to the dizzy heights of the pages of The Spectator this week with a column plucked straight from her own blog – ‘Sunak makes the SNP archaic’ became ‘Rishi Sunak spells trouble for the SNP’ and Effie Deans became Irena Skuba.

Skuba Diving

Irena’s argument, also re-published in Reaction (home to Iain Martin, Gerald Warner, Jenny Hjul and other wonders) was that the appointment of Rishi Sunak would be a blow to the cause for Scottish independence. The logic goes as follow:

“Whether you supported Sunak or whether you didn’t, it is time for all Conservatives and British people in general to wish him well.”

“The appointment of Rishi Sunak has already calmed the markets and we can hope that in a short time we will be back to where we were before Truss.”

“Sunak’s task is to use his extensive knowledge and experience of the markets to gradually improve the UK’s economic conditions. ”

The stability that Rishi and the Tories will bring will undermine the case for independence, so says Effie. But her wider argument is that the life-story of the PM is an emblem of Britain’s unique progressive political culture. Skuba explains: “Sunak’s parents were both born in Africa. One was a GP the other a pharmacist. He wasn’t super rich as a child but studied hard and gained as good an education as anyone in Britain. It says a lot about our country that he can become Prime Minister with hardly anyone caring at all about where his parents were born or what he looks like.”

I mean highlighting Rishi Sunak as an emblem of meritocratic Britain is really a marvel.

Now quite high on this idea Effie proclaims: “It is unimaginable that either China or Russia would choose leaders who were not ethnic Chinese or Russians. It is equally unimaginable in most EU countries or indeed most countries anywhere.”

I’m not sure how much this argument for sustained Union matches up to the scrutiny of the real world, but arguing that we are more progressive than Putin’s Russia, seems, how can I put this, a low bar?

Skuba reinforces her argument with a string of assertions about why Rishi Sunak will undermine the case for independence: “His ancestors did not fight at Bannockburn” she explains, “His ancestors did not demand the droit du seigneur from poor wee innocent Scottish maidens. His ancestors did not massacre wounded clansmen after Culloden.”

Um, okay.

She continues:

“Scottish nationalism depends on people who hate Britain for a variety of historical reasons.”

“Irish and Scottish nationalism are almost exclusively white.”

“Scotland has few ethnic minorities…”

“Rishi Sunak can destroy the Scottish nationalist argument by making it appear irrelevant to our shared future … Sunak makes the SNP archaic.”

Of course, it’s dire embarrassing drivel but it’s interesting that The Spectator has dipped so low as to publish it. It’s further sign of the descent of the right-wing media into clickbait and trash-blogs.

Likened by some to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Irena is nothing if not prolific, managing a regular column in Country Squire magazine along with her many other outlets.

But if Effie’s writing has a plaintive comic element (‘In previous generations people like me wrote in obscurity’) – her core argument is mirrored by Kenny Farquharson in The Times here (‘A British Asian PM is a boost for the Union‘). The premise for both is essentially that Scotland and Scottish nationalism is regressive and reactionary and (somehow) a government boasting Kemi Badenoch as ‘equalities minister’, Suella Braverman as Home Secretary and Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor and Sunak as PM marks Britain out as a progressive force.

Farquharson explains:

“I am no Tory, nor am I particularly a Unionist. And yet seeing Sunak stand on the steps of Downing Street and wave to the crowd before walking through that famous black door as prime minister made me proud to be British.”

The trouble with all this is of course the limitations of diversity rhetoric versus the very real institutional racism perpetuated by the Tories in government and with which post-Brexit Anglo-Britain is saturated.

The gap between Britain’s unhinged blogger sphere and its mainstream media is closing.

Lost in An Gearasdan

One of many trigger points for Deans/Skuba is gaelic language.

Here she explains its demise: “I imagine my small West Highland village had been fully Gaelic speaking one or perhaps two generations earlier, but the language was lost, not because anyone forced the people to stop speaking it, but because for various reasons they chose not to.”

If Deans outpourings are mostly hilarious – her getting lost in Fort William because of the gaelic road signage is an internet sensation in itself – and her regular tirades against Gaelic are more comic than damaging – but there is also an edge to her writing, which is presumably why she is being promoted by more mainstream right-wing outlets.

 

Her core sentiment is harsh and unrelenting: “In order to defeat the SNP we must defeat their assumptions. The initial assumption “Scotland is a country” must not be allowed, for if we do allow it, the rest of the argument follows as a matter of course.”

But if she is considered a daftie – she is fast becoming someone’s useful idiot.

Here she is on snowmen:

 

 

Here she is on Liz Truss:

 

Her hot takes on social issues are as reactionary as her takes on cultural issues are hilarious.

I buy soap from Tesco for 15 pence. Who goes to work and can’t afford soap? https://t.co/HAJLiEOwmw

— Effie Deans (@Effiedeans) October 27, 2022

It could be argued that Skuba’s elevation into the daylight of the mainstream is no surprise in a magazine like The Spectator which already hosts the likes of Stephen Daisley, Charles Moore, and James Delingpole, but the call represents a weakness in Unionist thinking and a desperation in their media. If such publications of the right want to be taken seriously, they need to employ credible people to advance credible arguments.

 

Thanks to everyone who suggested some of Effie’s finest moments. More welcome.