MPs condemn McGuinness over soldier killing comment

Martin McGuinness’s controversial claim that he wanted wanted to kill every British soldier in Derry in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday was condemned by MPs in Westminster today.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell welcomed the fact that Labour and Conservative members of the UK's House of Commons had joined unionists in signing a motion he tabled criticising the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister’s remarks.

The Sinn Féin man’s comments on a weekend radio show have also prompted calls for a Stormont Assembly inquiry into whether the minister breached his pledge of office.

In the interview, the self-confessed former IRA member had described his feelings after 13 people were shot dead by British army paratroopers at the human rights march in Derry in 1972.

“There is no doubt whatsoever that, in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, there was a renewed determination to oppose the British army and the RUC,” he said.

“If I had the ability to kill every single British soldier that was on the streets of Derry I would have killed every single one of them without any difficulty whatsoever.”

Mr Campbell’s Westminster motion condemned the Deputy First Minister and called on him to reveal the extent of his involvement in IRA activities during the Troubles.

“Like many people, I was disgusted by Martin McGuinness’s ham-fisted attempt to play to the Sinn Féin base at the weekend by claiming he would have killed every British soldier he could after Bloody Sunday in 1972,” said the East Derry MP.

“Having been forced to sign up to policing and British legal institutions and sitting in Stormont, a building Sinn Féin vowed to bring down, administering British rule, one can see why Mr McGuinness is reduced to petulant comments such as these in order to keep Sinn Féin’s hardcore supporters on-side.

“The truth of the matter, however, is that comments such as these have no place in sensible political discourse.

“I am pleased that members of the governing Labour Party and the Tory Opposition have signed the parliamentary Early Day Motion condemning his comments and calling for him to come clean about his own involvement in paramilitary crime.

“Nationalists are terribly good at demanding full disclosure and openness from others, particularly the police and the army. It will be interesting to see if Mr McGuinness will abide by the standards he sets for others and own up to his own role in creating violence and mayhem in the province and offer a long overdue apology.”