In the episode, it is the First Lady’s birthday, but in the background, there is lots of politicking going on. One facet of this is a discussion between Toby and Lord John Marbury (the British Ambassador to the United States), where Marbury insists that Brendan McGann cannot be allowed to visit the White House. Brendan McGann is the fictional leader of Sinn Féin, a real-life political party in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland that is the political arm of the Irish Republican Party (IRA).

The UK and Ireland on April 10th celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement where the Irish government gave up its claim to Northern Ireland and the UK acknowledged that a majority of the Irish people wanted a unified country. President Biden visited Northern Ireland this week to celebrate the anniversary. It is a big deal when American Presidents visit Northern Ireland because of the United State’s world status as a global superpower and the fact that Northern Ireland makes lots of money off of American corporations that settle there for tax reasons. The agreement brought an end to the Troubles, the years from 1960 to 1998 when the country was experiencing ethno-nationalist conflict. The IRA was the most active republican paramilitary group and was considered by the British to be a terrorist organization, given that they carried out shooting and bombing attacks to try to keep Northern Ireland unstable. Although their biggest targets were British politicians and soldiers, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it’s estimated that during the conflict “the IRA killed about 1,800 people, including approximately 600 civilians”  Even after the Good Friday agreement, it took the IRA years to disarm, their reasoning being that the British government had not held up their end of the bargain to reform their military-esque police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, or pulled their troops out of Northern Ireland. By their association with the IRA, Sinn Féin was also considered a terrorist group, which is why in the episode it is the British government’s position that the political party’s leader should not be given a visa or allowed to come to the White House.

The dilemma of whether or not a controversial political figure should get to come to the White House and meet the President has come up multiple times in The West Wing. Besides in this episode, it happens with a progressive reformist Ukrainian presidential candidate that the government of Ukraine didn’t want to come to the White House, and Leo mentions it happening at the state department with the Dalai Lama. When this episode aired the IRA still hadn't taken up disarmament, and while Lord John Marbury as the British ambassador to the United States relays the message that the British government does not want the leader of Sinn Féin to come to the White House, he does, in the end, admit to Toby that he must come so that they can negotiate a full cease-fire. After all, getting the Good Friday Agreement in the first place had been an 18-month peace process overseen by the United States.