If her truth be known, Brits are all guilty of Sussexism

The political atmosphere in Britain in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s explosive chat with Oprah is strange, censorious and unsettling.

Across social media, among Millennials and Generation Z, Meghan is worshipped. Her claim that racism is rife in modern Britain is accepted as gospel truth.

There’s a new commandment: Thou shalt not criticise Meghan Markle. Woe betide anyone who even thinks about dissing this duchess.

This commandment has been vigorously enforced here in Britain ever since Meghan and Harry’s sitdown with Oprah was broadcast on TV.

That televisual spectacle has unleashed an extraordinary chain of events. The chattering classes have elevated Meghan into the patron saint of wokeness. They venerate her.

They cheer her for “telling the truth” about the royals, the media and much of the British public — we’re all racist, apparently — and they insist we all accept this truth into our lives.

And if we refuse? If we dare to question Meg’s decree that the British tabloid press is a hotbed of racism?

If we express scepticism about her claim that the royal family is a uniquely repressive and possibly racist institution? Or — heaven forfend — if we baulk at the sight of these two millionaires telling their billionaire buddy, Oprah Winfrey, about how hard their lives have been?

Well, then we’re in trouble. You’ll be accused of anti-Sussex blasphemy. You could even find yourself cast out of polite society, a shameful Meghan-doubter left to wander in the wilderness.

The political atmosphere in Britain in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s explosive chat with Oprah is strange, censorious and unsettling.

The royal pair’s main talking points were the archaic, uncaring nature of the royal family, the bigotry of the British media and the difficulty of living in a country as racist as the UK. Charming.

With eye-swivelling speed, their “truth” has been institutionalised by the woke set as the truth.

Consider what happened to Piers Morgan when he dared to play the role of doubting Thomas in the Harry-and-Meghan affair. He said he doesn’t believe a word Meghan says.

He especially called into question her claim that she went to “The Firm” for help when she was feeling suicidal during palace life but they told her nothing could be done. It would look bad, palace staff apparently said, for a member of the royal family to seek psychological assistance.

I think Morgan was right to question this. Of course, none of us knows what goes on inside the royal households, but we do know royals have been more open about their mental travails in recent years.

Last year Prince Harry revealed he had been in therapy for three years. Princess Margaret famously saw a therapist. It was covered in The Crown. Harry and Meghan, along with William and Kate, openly campaigned on the issue of mental health. So the idea that palace HR shut the door in Meghan’s face when she told them she was suffering from emotional turmoil does sound a little iffy.

There’s a new commandment: Thou shalt not criticise Meghan Markle. Picture: CBS

And yet for raising this question, for failing to genuflect uncritically before Meghan’s truth, Morgan was sent packing from Good Morning Britain. His bosses told him to apologise on-air for his criticisms of Meghan. They essentially demanded that he engage in a very public act of self-flagellation for the sin of questioning St Meghan. “Recant!”

He refused. And so he had to go. And when he did go, the Twittermob whooped with delight, thrilled that a blasphemer against the high priestess of woke had been cast out.

Or consider the fate of Ian Murray of the Society of Editors.

This is an influential organisation that defends media freedom and journalists’ rights. So naturally it felt honour-bound to defend the British press against Harry and Meghan’s stinging criticisms of it.

Harry told Oprah “the UK press is bigoted, specifically the tabloids”. Meghan went further. She accused the British tabloids of “inciting so much racism” against her, and said they were “bringing out a part of people that was racist”. That is, the racist tabloid rags helped to unleash the racism that lurks in the hearts of many Brits.

Again, charming. What a way to treat a country in which thousands of people cheered you through the streets of Windsor to your wedding just three years ago.

The Society of Editors, as you would expect, kicked into action. It released a statement saying this “attack” on the British media was “not acceptable” without evidence.

Cue meltdown among the correct-thinking sections of society. Right-on journalists, and even some editors, denounced the society for daring to question Harry and Meghan’s “lived experience” of media racism.

The pressure became too much to bear, and so Murray, the society’s executive director, resigned. This will allow us to “rebuild our reputation”, said the shamed society.

It was a shocking spectacle. A journalists’ organisation being demonised for having the temerity to question Harry and Meghan’s denunciation of British journalism as prejudiced and vile.

Now, some in the Meghan-worshipping set want to go further and actively cleanse the media of its sinful bigotries.

Labour MP Holly Lynch has chastised the press for failing to imbibe Meghan’s sermon about racism. “A lot of media outlets have not heeded those calls for a change,” she said. We “might start needing to think about” getting the government involved, she added.

Other MPs are calling for a debate about how to “tackle racism in the media and the mental health strains of persistent press coverage”.

This is chilling. Press freedom in Britain was won by radical journalists willing to stand up to kings and queens and to demand an end to crown censorship of the press.

Yet now, in the sainted name of Meghan Markle, MPs are wondering if we might need government action to ensure the press is not too insulting to a duchess.

Everywhere one looks, the chattering classes are insisting we all bow down to Harry and Meghan’s sermons.

The post-Meghan moment is a good chance to “explore racial inequality” in schools, says one educational expert. MPs are calling for an investigation into alleged racism in the palace. Across social media, among Millennials and Generation Z, Meghan is worshipped. Her claim that racism is rife in modern Britain is accepted as gospel truth.

It is all so bizarre. It’s like a sequel to the summer of BLM madness we had here last year.

That became a neo-Maoist spectacle, with statues being torn down, “offensive” comedy shows being taken off streaming services, and various institutions — from the British Museum to the Natural History Museum — promising to atone for the “sins” of Empire and colonialism.

This is what the Harry and Meghan affair has tapped into, and revved up — the self-loathing of the woke elites; the belief among sections of the political class that Britain is a nasty, racist country that must constantly beat itself up for the crimes of the past.

It’s such a dispiriting, misanthropic view. No wonder it turns off so many ordinary people, who take pride in Britain and who don’t believe that our newspapers, our royals and our people are racist.

This is the new divide in Britain. On one side are the super-aware, painfully PC self-loathers, and on the other side are people who feel patriotic and content.

Meghan may have become the holy figurehead of the self-loathing lobby. But the rest of us are very sceptical indeed about the things she says and the idea that she is a deliverer of truths that must never be questioned.

And if that makes us blasphemers, so be it.

Brendan O’Neill is editor of Spiked.