Trump declares 'America is back' in Congressional speech
GB NEWS
The diplomat was sacked after he made the remarks at an event entitled 'Keeping the peace on Nato’s longest border with Russia'
Don't Miss
Most Read
Trending on GB News
New Zealand has sacked its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom after he questioned US President Donald Trump’s grasp of history.
At a Chatham House event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner Phil Goff likened efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine with the 1938 Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, which allowed Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
"President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?" Goff asked at the public event.
Goff directed his question towards Finland’s Foreign Affairs minister, Elina Valtonen, at an event entitled: “Keeping the peace on Nato’s longest border with Russia”.
He recalled Winston Churchill’s denunciation of the British Government for signing the Munich Agreement, quoting a speech the former Prime Minister made to the House of Commons in 1938.
“You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war”, Goff quoted Churchill telling Neville Chamberlain.
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, said he was forced to act because the comments did not represent the views of the national government.
He said: "When you are in that position you represent the government and the policies of the day, you're not able to free think, you are the face of New Zealand."
Peters added that he would have made the same decision, regardless of which country’s leader was being spoken about.
He emphasised: "It's not the way you behave as the front face of a country, diplomatically."
Peters, who also serves as the country’s deputy prime minister, told the press that he had not consulted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon before making the decision to sack Goff.
“We have asked the secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bede Corry, to now work through with Mr Goff the upcoming leadership transition at the New Zealand High Commission in London,” Peters added.
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is from the opposition Labor Party, criticised the decision.
She wrote on social media: “This looks like a very thin excuse for sacking a highly respected former New Zealand Foreign Minister from his post as High Commissioner to the UK.”
The move to remove Goff from office comes as New Zealand looks to maintain its relationship with US, one of its largest export markets.
Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister, told the media this week that he trusts Trump.
Goff, a former Labour Party leader who has also served two terms as mayor of Auckland, had been High Commissioner since 2023.
He was due to serve until late 2025, prior to his sacking.
