The New Zealand High Commissioner to the United Kingdom was dismissed after questioning U.S. President Donald Trump’s understanding of history at an event in London. Speaking at the international think tank Chatham House on Tuesday (4th), Phil Goff, a former Mayor of Auckland and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, remarked, “I was rereading Churchill’s speech in the House of Commons in 1938 after the Munich Agreement, where he turned to Chamberlain and said: ‘You had the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, but will have war.’” Goff added, “President Trump restored Churchill’s bust in the Oval Office. But do you think he truly understands history?”
Goff was drawing a comparison between Trump’s efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the 1938 agreement signed by the UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, along with leaders of France and Germany, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex part of former Czechoslovakia. The Nazi leader invaded Poland a year later, starting World War II. New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Peters, later dismissed Goff for his comments, stating he would have acted similarly had Goff made such remarks about other countries.
“If he [Goff] had made that comment about Germany, France, Tonga, or Samoa, I would have been forced to act,” Peters told reporters. “It’s seriously regrettable and one of the hardest things anyone had to do in their entire career,” he added. “I’ve worked with Phil Goff, I’ve known him for a long time,” Peters continued, emphasizing that Goff’s comments were “seriously disappointing.” “When you’re in that position, you represent the government and current policies; you’re not free to think independently; you are the face of New Zealand,” he concluded.
However, the decision was not without criticism, including from former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark. “This seems a very weak excuse for dismissing a highly respected former Minister of Foreign Affairs from his post as High Commissioner to the UK,” Clark wrote in a post on X. “I recently attended the Munich Security Conference, where many drew parallels between Munich 1938 and the actions of the US now.”
