‘Standing up for Scotland’

Sarah Moxey enjoys a fresh perspective on the development of unionism and nationalism in Scotland

‘Standing up for Scotland’: Nationalist Unionism and Scottish Party Politics, 1884-2014

David Torrance Edinburgh University Press, 2020 256 pages

Hardback, £80.00

ISBN: 9781474447812

The notion of standing up for Scotland has become a hot commodity over the last few years in Scottish politics, with the debate about which political party truly speaks for the country growing ever more polarised.

In a year of crucial Scottish parliamentary elections, this timely and important work by David Torrance aims to trace the development of the idea.The book is based on his recently-completed PhD thesis and draws on an impressively-wide variety of primary and secondary literature, but Torrance’s experience in journalism ensures that it is readable as well as erudite.

The book focuses heavily on the Scottish Unionist party, but includes chapters on where Labour, the Liberals and the SNP stake their claims in standing up for Scotland. The central argument is that union-favouring parties employ a form of ‘nationalistunionism’ to appeal to the electorate and assuage separatist nationalism.

Keen Scottish historians will recognise the inversion of the concept of ‘unionistnationalism’, a theory first proposed by Professor Graeme Morton. Morton argued that during the 19th century, unionists used elements of nationalism to ensure that Scotland maintained an equal partnership within the union.

Torrance’s explanation of nationalistunionism is rather brief, but he offers examples throughout the book. He argues that unionists employed a patriotic form of nationalism to encourage support for union, while categorising separatist nationalism as ‘bad nationalism’. This continual reshaping of acceptable expressions of ‘good nationalism’ by unionists is at the core of the idea of nationalist-unionism.

Torrance proposes that political parties were engaged in a game of passing the baton of standing up for Scotland during the 20th and 21st centuries. He dissects this political posturing very well in the chapters that explore each party’s relationship with the idea.

Torrance correctly observes how the nature of both unionism and nationalism has shifted over the past century to align with the ‘Overton window’ of acceptable public discourse. Unionist parties have been forced to deploy increasingly nationalistic policies to appeal to public sentiment. Conversely, Torrance shows how the SNP has employed aspects of unionism to broaden their electoral appeal. His work highlights that nationalist and unionist are not necessarily fixed designations, but can be moulded to suit changing circumstances.

Just as Torrance’s nationalist-unionist argument is in full flow, he turns from Scotland to explore Wales and Northern Ireland.While this material was interesting and useful to show the broader applicability of the concept of nationalist-unionism,

I felt it interrupted the overall flow and direction of the volume. In a book that contains Scotland twice in the title, these two chapters, however informative, seemed an abrupt change of direction.

In the conclusion,Torrance draws into question long-held concepts, particularly the idea that Scottish nationalism is a form of civic nationalism. He queries the importance of the commonly quoted triumvirate of Scottish national identity: Scots law, the kirk and education. He rightly notes the comparative lack of attention paid to intangible elements of national sentiment, such as cultural or sentimental nationalism. Drawing attention

Keen Scottish historians will recognise the inversion of the concept of ‘unionistNATIONALISM’, A THEORY fiRST PROPOSED BY Professor Graeme Morton

to these less considered aspects,Torrance challenges current and future researchers to think more deeply about Scottish politics and identity.

Torrance makes a worthy contribution to both unionist and nationalist studies. The term ‘nationalist-unionism’ usefully encapsulates the methods unionists have employed to avert the growth of separatist nationalism. In a year where unionism and nationalism will yet again dominate Scotland’s political agenda, this book is truly a vital read.

Sarah Moxey is a librarian in Special Collections at the National Library of Scotland and is reading for a PhD in Scottish History. Her research focuses on Scottish politics duringWorldWar II.