Foreign Minister Winston Peters has moved quickly to sack Phil Goff as high commissioner to the UK, after he took a jab at US President Donald Trump.
Just hours after being made aware of Goff’s critical comment, Peters had declared that he was no longer fit to be New Zealand’s representative to the UK. The decision followed questions from
The Post’s Luke Malpass on the comments on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the foreign minister issued a statement, saying that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bede Corry, had been tasked with finding a new high commissioner for London.
Goff’s fast dismissal came after he questioned whether Trump had a good grasp of history, and drew a parallel between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the surrender of part of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.
At a Chatham House event in London earlier this week, Goff asked a question during a public Q&A session of Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, who was speaking about how Finland kept the peace with Russia.
Goff said he had been re-reading a speech from
Winston Churchill in the UK House of Commons after the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed for the German annexation of The Sudetenland.
“[Churchill] turned to [then UK prime minister Neville] Chamberlain, he said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’,” Goff said.
“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
The comments were in reference to Trump’s recent efforts to
strike a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that could see parts of Ukrainian territory surrendered.
Peters’ office called the comment “deeply disappointing”.
“They do not represent the views of the NZ Government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable,” the spokesperson said, in a statement.
