by Admin
07/03/2025
New Zealand has dismissed its ambassador to the United Kingdom, Phil Goff, after the diplomat publicly questioned U.S. President Donald Trump’s understanding of World War II history.
The office of Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced on Thursday that Goff’s position as High Commissioner to the UK had become “untenable” following his comments during a panel discussion in London.
Speaking at a Chatham House event on Wednesday alongside Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Goff compared Trump’s approach to ending the war in Ukraine with the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia.
“I was re-reading Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons in 1938 after the Munich Agreement, and he turned to Chamberlain and said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour.
You chose dishonour, yet you will have war,’” Goff said during the discussion, referring to former UK Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain.
He then took aim at Trump’s reverence for Churchill, he said:
“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
Valtonen declined to respond directly but remarked that Churchill had made many “timeless statements.”
Following Goff’s remarks, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that discussions were underway regarding his return home but declined to provide further details.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark criticized the decision, calling the reasoning “a very thin excuse.”
The former prime minister, who led the country from 1999 to 2008, said that similar comparisons had been made at last month’s Munich Security Conference in Germany.
However, Foreign Minister Winston Peters defended the move, saying it was a necessary but “seriously disappointing” decision.
“We cannot have people making comments which impinge upon our very future – no matter what the country is, whether it’s Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, or, dare I say it, the United States,” Peters told reporters.
“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.”
Goff, who has not publicly commented on his dismissal, was appointed High Commissioner to the UK in 2023.
Prior to his diplomatic role, he held multiple ministerial positions, including foreign affairs, and served two terms as the mayor of Auckland.
His removal highlights the sensitivity of diplomatic relations as New Zealand navigates its ties with the United States under Trump’s leadership.