NZ fires top envoy for daring to question Trump

Prime Minister says the sack is entirely appropriate

On Wednesday, New Zealand fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over comments that questioned US President Donald Trump’s understanding of history.

According to BBC News, High Commissioner Phil Goff made comparisons between the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia, and current efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Golf made this comparison at an event in London on Tuesday, recalled how Sir Winston Churchill had criticized the agreement.

Goff then said of Trump, “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters regarded Goff’s comments  as “deeply disappointing” and according to him, Goff had  made his position “untenable”.

His comments came after Trump paused military aid to Kyiv following a heated verbal exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.

He contrasted Trump with Churchill who, while estranged from the British government, spoke against the Munich Agreement as he saw it as a surrender to Nazi Germany’s threats.

Goff quoted how Churchill had rebuked then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: “You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war.”

Peters said Mr Goff’s views did not represent those of the New Zealand government.

Local media reported Peters as saying that when one is in such position as Goff’s, the person represents the government and the policies of the day.

In his words, “you’re not able to free think, you are the face of New Zealand.”

He further said, “It’s not the way you behave as the front face of a country, diplomatically,” adding that he would have taken the same course of action no matter which country was being spoken about.

Mr Goff is a veteran politician who had been high commissioner since January 2023.

Before that, he served for two terms as mayor of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, and was leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2011.

He had also held several ministerial portfolios, including justice, foreign affairs and defence.

Peters, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters that he had made the decision to sack Phil Goff without first consulting Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

When it was pointed out that Luxon was the leader of New Zealand, Peters reply was, “I know he’s the prime minister, I made him the prime minister.”

The 79-year-old, who has previously worked with Mr Goff in government, leads the New Zealand First political party – which joined Luxon’s National Party and the Act Party in 2023 to form the current ruling centre-right coalition government.

Luxon, on his part, said Peters’ decision to fire Mr Goff without first consulting him was “entirely appropriate”.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark was among those who criticized Mr Goff’s sacking, saying it was backed by a “very thin excuse”.

In her post on X, Helen wrote, “I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 and US actions now.”

Under the 1938 Munich Agreement, Hitler took control of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.

The deal failed to stop Nazi Germany from advancing deeper into Europe and World War II began when he invaded Poland in 1939.

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