A former aide to Margaret Thatcher has labelled President Joe Biden "an embarrassment to the United States" over his Black and Tans gaffe.
Many people saw the funny side when President Biden mistakenly said his relative Rob Kearney beat the Black and Tans rather than the All Blacks, but Conservative commentator Nile Gardiner was not one of them.
He wrote on Twitter: "Joe Biden is an embarrassment to the United States."
READ MORE: US President Joe Biden leaves people in stitches with 'Black and Tan' gaffe
Another Conservative commentator also took aim at President Biden over the gaffe, with GB News broadcaster Darren Grimes tweeting: "In yet another incoherent babble at an Irish pub Joe Biden speaks of his delight at Ireland beating the 'hell out of the Black and Tans'.
"He meant the All Blacks of New Zealand. The Black and Tans were a British unit during the 1919-21 Irish independence war. Utter embarrassment."
Cheers and laughter echoed around the Oireachtas on Thursday after President Biden corrected the gaffe.
In a speech in Co Louth on Wednesday, Mr Biden confused the name of the famous New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, with the contentious Irish War of Independence-era police force.
He made the gaffe at the Windsor Bar in Dundalk, when he thanked relative and former Irish rugby player Kearney for the gift of the Irish team tie after a victory against the New Zealand rugby team at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016.
But on Thursday, President Biden pumped his fist as he corrected the record, saying: “I always have a little bit of Ireland close by when I’m in Washington.
“In the Oval Office I have a rugby ball signed by the Irish rugby team when they beat the All Blacks in Dublin in 2021.”
The president smiled as the chamber loudly applauded.
Earlier on Thursday, the White House said it was “very clear” President Biden was referring to the New Zealand rugby union team when he made a mistaken reference to “the Black and Tans”.
The Black and Tans is a name for part-time officers recruited to bolster Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) numbers in Ireland during the War of Independence, many of whom gained a violent reputation.
During his trip to Dundalk on Wednesday, President Biden mistakenly said: “See this tie I have, this shamrock tie? It was given to me by one of these guys right here, who’s a hell of a rugby player who beat the hell out of the Black and Tans.”
Correcting himself after grimacing, President Biden continued: “Ah God – but, but it was when you were at Soldier Field, wasn’t it? Chicago?
“After it was all over, he gave my brother, allegedly for me – but if it wasn’t I still took it – I still got the tie. I wore it with great pride.”
The official transcript on the White House website was amended to say the “All Blacks”.
Ireland beat the All Blacks for the first time in 111 years in a 2016 match at Soldier Field in Chicago, a venue chosen in an attempt to increase the exposure of the sport.
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