WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealandâs most senior envoy to the United Kingdom has lost his job over remarks he made about U.S. President Donald Trump at an event in London this week, New Zealand’s foreign minister said Thursday.
Phil Goff, who is New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the U.K., made the comments at an event held by the international affairs think tank Chatham House in London on Tuesday.
Goff asked a question from the audience of the guest speaker, Finlandâs Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, in which he said he had been re-reading a famous speech by former British wartime leader Winston Churchill from 1938, when Churchill was a lawmaker in the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
Churchill’s speech rebuked Britain’s signing of the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, allowing Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia. Goff quoted Churchill as saying to Chamberlain, âYou had the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, yet you will have war.â
Goff then asked Valtonen: âPresident Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?â
As the audience chuckled at the New Zealand envoy’s question, Valtonen said she would âlimit myselfâ to saying that Churchill âhas made very timeless remarks,â according to video of the event published by New Zealand news outlets.
Valtonen’s speech on Tuesday was billed as covering Finlandâs approach to European security at an event entitled âKeeping the peace on NATOâs longest border with Russia.â
In response to questions from reporters, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that Goffâs remarks were âdisappointingâ and made the envoyâs position âuntenable.â
âWe 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,â Peters said in a written statement.
Goff has been New Zealandâs envoy to the U.K. since January 2023. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.