"Oeijord notes that Cronin was just presenting "the new consensus in evolutionary biology—the gene-selectionist approach" to which Gould simply had to fight back; but "two scientific giants", John Maynard Smith and Daniel Dennett defended Cronin against Gould's charges.The English evolutionary anthropologist Camilla Power, in "A reply to Helena Cronin", described Cronin as "authoress of 'The Ant and the Peacock' [who] was pontificating .. on how Darwinian theory should inform Blairite social policy...this is a Darwinian's response".