The former Auckland mayor’s momentary lapse in judgement has cost him his diplomatic career, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.
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Peters moves fast after comment comes to light
It was only a brief question during a post-talk Q&A. In fact, as one Alex Braae, late of this parish, observed on X, Phil Goff was actually doing “more of a comment than a question”, that classic bugbear of festival audiences the world over.
Either way, Goff’s remarks about Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and Donald Trump were enough to get him sacked as High Commissioner to the UK, a job he has had since 2023. Foreign minister Winston Peters said sacking Goff was one of the most difficult things he has had to do in his whole career, but the strict requirements of Goff’s diplomatic role left him with no choice. “When you are in that position you represent the government and the policies of the day, you’re not able to free-think, you are the face of New Zealand,” Peters said. That goes double when you’re trying to stay on the good side of the notoriously thin-skinned as Donald Trump, Peters could have added (but didn’t).
What Goff said
The former Labour leader and Auckland mayor made his fateful comment during an event at Chatham House, a leading international affairs think tank. If you recognise the name, it’s likely because it has come to signify restrictions on revealing the identity behind a particular comment or quote – though sadly for Goff, most Chatham House events don’t actually follow this rule.
Following a talk by Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen about the challenges of dealing with neighbouring Russia, Goff said he had been re-reading Winston Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons in 1938 after the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler. “He turned to [prime minister Neville] Chamberlain, he said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’,” Goff said.
He went on: “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?” the Guardian’s Eva Corlett reports.
Clark and Hipkins differ on sacking
Helen Clark, Goff’s predecessor as Labour leader, tweeted that the comment looked like “a very thin excuse” for his sacking. Current leader Chris Hipkins said he understood Peters’ position. “If a politician had said those comments, I don’t think anyone would particularly bat an eyelid, but Phil Goff is currently a diplomat, and so there is a different standard for diplomats.”
Herald politics writer Audrey Young (Premium paywalled) said Goff let himself down. He would never have made the comments had he been posted to Washington DC rather than London, Young wrote. “But he should not have made them anywhere. It was a momentary lapse in judgment and he has paid a heavy but justifiable price in the circumstances.”
‘You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’
It may not be as famous as “We will fight them on the beaches”, but Winston Churchill’s 1938 speech to parliament is still remembered as one of his great pieces of oratory. At the time Churchill was a backbench MP for the Conservatives, who had been out of government since 1929. He rose to speak just days after prime minister Neville Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich Agreement which allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, in an effort to avoid war.
Churchill was a lone voice against the Munich Agreement – most British politicians and the public supported Chamberlain’s appeasement. However, within a year, Germany had taken over all of Czechoslovakia, proving Churchill right.
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