The highest-ranking New Zealand diplomat in the UK has lost his position due to his outspoken remarks about Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, President Trump delivered an address to Congress, following a tumultuous period for the 47th President of the United States.
Trump accused Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of ‘gambling with World War 3’, while Vice President JD Vance claimed Zelenskyy was showing disrespect towards both Trump and the US, urging the Ukrainian leader to ‘thank’ the president.
“I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media…You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance stated.
This week, Trump also halted military assistance to Ukraine, a decision that has drawn significant global criticism.
Phil Goff, the former New Zealand high commissioner to the UK, expressed his personal views on this situation and on Trump, leading to his dismissal.
At a Chatham House event in London, Goff reportedly compared efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which involved Adolf Hitler’s annexation of a part of Czechoslovakia.
Addressing Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen, Goff remarked: “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
Goff was alluding to the recent dispute between the US president and Zelenskyy.
The diplomat noted he had been reviewing a 1938 speech where Churchill condemned then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for signing the agreement with Hitler.
Valtonen appeared reluctant to respond to the question, mentioning she would even ‘limit’ her comments about Trump.
New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, decided to dismiss Goff due to his public statements, noting he would have made the same ‘difficult’ decision had Goff commented similarly on another country.
“When you’re in that position, you represent the views of the government and the policies of the day – you’re not able to free-think, you are the face of New Zealand,” Peters told the media on Thursday (March 6), according to Fox News.
“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’ decision was reportedly made without consulting Prime Minister Christopher Luxon beforehand, but Luxon later affirmed that the decision was ‘entirely appropriate’.