By Enyichukwu Enemanna
New Zealand has announced the sacking of the country’s ambassador to the United Kingdom following his unsavoury remarks on the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Ambassador Phil Goff made the comments on Tuesday at a forum held by the international affairs think tank Chatham House in London, remarks that seemingly questioned Trump’s grasp of history.
Finland’s Foreign Minister, Elina Valtonen, was a guest speaker at the event.
Goff, who was in the audience, asked a question to Valtonen after she spoke about how to keep the peace with Russia, with which Finland shares a border.
He spoke about President Trump restoring the bust of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Oval Office and referred to Churchill’s speech from 1938 when he was an MP in the government of Neville Chamberlain.
Goff said he had been re-reading the speech in which Churchill denounced his own government for signing the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, allowing Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
He quoted Churchill telling Chamberlain: “You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war.”
Goff went on to ask Valtonen: “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
In response, Valtonen said she would “limit herself” to saying that Churchill “has made very timeless remarks”.
Goff’s question is seen as faulting Trump’s efforts to thaw relations with Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since 2022. He contrasted Trump’s actions with Churchill’s, who fought against Nazi Germany.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, in a statement on Thursday, said Goff’s comments were “deeply disappointing”.
Peters said it was “seriously regrettable” that he had to take the decision to remove Goff over the remark, adding that he would have done the same regardless of which world leader was on the receiving end of them.
“They do not represent the views of the NZ Government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable,” he said.
“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.
