No, no, no. I was talking about the treaty with Michael Collins in 1921

Adams and McGuinness came into Downing Street. They came down the long corridor that takes you to the cabinet room at the end of the building. And I brought them into the room and took them round to the far side of the table with the windows behind them. And in an attempt to break the ice, Martin McGuinness put his hands on the back of the chair and said, “So this is where the damage was done, then?” I was horrified. I said, “Yes. The IRA mortars landed in the garden behind you. The windows blew in. My brother, who was with John Major at the time, dragged him under the table to get him away from the falling glass.” And he looked horrified and said, “No, no, no. I was talking about the treaty with Michael Collins in 1921.” It was a completely different sense of history on the two sides. You had to break through this to have any chance of getting an understanding.

C. Blattman, Why we fight (2022), loc. 4078