New Zealand Dismisses UK Envoy Over Comments on Trump and WWII
New Zealand has dismissed its High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Phil Goff, after his controversial remarks regarding President Donald Trump’s understanding of World War II events.
On Thursday, New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, announced that Goff’s position had become “untenable” following his comments made during a panel discussion at Chatham House in London. Goff had publicly compared Trump’s attempts to end the war in Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia.
During a discussion with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Wednesday, Goff referenced Winston Churchill’s speech in 1938 after the Munich Agreement, quoting Churchill’s words, “You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war.” Goff went on to question whether President Trump truly understood history, particularly given that Trump had restored a bust of Churchill to the Oval Office.
Valtonen, while not directly responding to Goff’s question, remarked that Churchill had made many “timeless remarks.”
However, the comments sparked controversy. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who led the country from 1999 to 2008, criticized the rationale for Goff’s dismissal, calling it a “very thin excuse.” Clark noted that she had heard similar comparisons made at the Munich Security Conference in Germany the previous month.
Speaking to reporters later, Foreign Minister Peters said the decision to remove Goff, though disappointing, was necessary. He explained, “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 emphasized that when representing New Zealand, diplomats must embody the government’s current policies and refrain from offering personal opinions that could conflict with the country’s official stance.
Goff did not immediately respond to requests for comment via his social media account.
