Presidential debate goes south with ‘West Brit’ jibes

BEING saddled with the slogan “West Brits Out” was not the best start to Martin McGuinness’s presidential push.

But his rebuke against so-called West Brit criticisms of him was nonetheless a minor, but telling slip-up, revealing a defensive mind-set still tuned into the past.

Dictionaries summarise “West Brit” as a pejorative term of political abuse in Ireland, usually deployed against Protestants or those who are seen as too pro-British.