He has also issued a full statement (below story) saying he had a duty to ask the question he did, he did not regret it and that he would be on the right side of history.
“By saying nothing, New Zealand – and many other countries – was effectively condoning and being complicit in what Trump was doing,” wrote Goff, a former Labour leader, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence and former Auckland Mayor. He was appointed High Commissioner under the last Labour Government.
Goff’s offending comments were in a question directed to Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Elina Valtonen. They came the week after the US told Ukraine it would need to give up land to the invading Russians if it wanted to end the war, a week after the bust-up in the Oval Office when Trump and his Vice-President JD Vance tore strips off Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the week that Trump suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine.
Goff prefaced his question saying he had been re-reading a parliamentary speech by Winston Churchill – who opposed UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signing the Munich Agreement in 1938 on the basis it was the appeasement of an aggressor that would lead to war.
The now former High Commissioner to London, Phil Goff, has broken his silence. Photo / Michael Craig
The now former High Commissioner to London, Phil Goff, has broken his silence. Photo / Michael Craig
Goff: “He turned to Chamberlain, he said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’.
Goff continued: “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
When Foreign Minister Winston Peters received reports of the question, he fired Goff, saying they did not represent the views of the New Zealand Government and that Goff’s position was untenable.
Goff said last night he thought his question was “to the edge”.
“I didn’t think it was over the edge.”
“I haven’t made it into a feud with Winston. He has the prerogative to take the action that he did … He made the decision I should be recalled and I accept that. That’s the beginning and end of it.”
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters gave Phil Goff his marching orders after his comments about US President Donald Trump. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters gave Phil Goff his marching orders after his comments about US President Donald Trump. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Goff described some of the policies of the Trump administration – tariffs, climate change, USAID, and foreign policy - as “bloody insane” and “populism at its very, very worst”.
“This isn’t some reality TV show,” said Goff.
“Real people are dying and a nation and its democracy is being dismembered in a way that history will surely condemn.
“Should we be submitting to what Trump is doing without question for fear of offending or should we be speaking out?
“My feeling is – and I think the world will move more towards this – treading lightly doesn’t get you anywhere.
“Submitting to Trump simply seems to encourage him.”
Goff and his wife, Mary, have returned to New Zealand and are living back on their farm at Clevedon.
Goff is considering a book offer and will spend the next few months working on the farm before turning his mind to something more stimulating.
He ruled out standing again as Auckland Mayor.
“I’m not much interested in running for office or a heavily partisan role but rather a role where I can say what I think, where I can share ideas with people and look at what a retired elderly gentleman can do in his retirement to make the world a better place.”
Phil Goff’s full statement: Why I spoke out
Like many others, I was appalled and astounded by the dishonest comments made about the situation in Ukraine by the Trump Administration. As one untruthful statement followed another like something out of an Orwell novel, I increasingly felt that the lies needed to be called out.
I found it bizarre to hear President Trump publicly label Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator. Everyone knew that Zelenskyy had been democratically elected and while Trump claimed his support in the polls had fallen to 4% it was pointed out that his actual support was around 57%. Trump made no similar remarks or criticism of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and never does. Yet Putin’s regime imprisons and murders his opponents and suppresses democratic rights in Russia.
Then Trump made the patently false accusation that Ukraine started the war with Russia. How could he make such a claim when the world had witnessed Russia as the aggressor which invaded its smaller neighbour, killing thousands of civilians, committing war crimes and destroying cities and infrastructure?
That President Trump could lie so blatantly is perhaps explained by his taking offence at Zelenskyy’s refusal to comply with unreasonable and self-serving demands such as ceding control of Ukraine’s mineral wealth to the US. What was also clear was that Trump was intent on pressuring Ukraine to capitulate to Russian demands for a one-sided “peace settlement” which would result in neither a fair nor sustainable peace.
It is astonishing that the US voted with Russia and North Korea in the United Nations against Ukraine and in opposition to the views of democratic countries the US is normally aligned with, including New Zealand. It then withdrew satellite imaging services Ukraine needed for its self-defence in an attempt to further pressure Zelenskyy to agree to a ceasefire. No equivalent pressure has yet been placed on Russia even while it has continued its illegal attacks on Ukraine.
Americans had their say by electing Donald Trump as President. When Phil Goff had his say over Trump's leadership it cost him his diplomatic post. Photo / Supplied
Americans had their say by electing Donald Trump as President. When Phil Goff had his say over Trump's leadership it cost him his diplomatic post. Photo / Supplied
Trump and Vance’s disgraceful bullying of Zelenskyy in the White House as he struggled in his third language to explain the plight of his nation was as remarkable as it was appalling.
What Trump was doing and saying was wrong and a betrayal of Ukraine’s struggle to defend its freedom and nationhood. Democratic leaders around the world knew his comments to be unfair and untrue, yet few countries have dared to criticise Trump for making them.
Like the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, everyone knew that the emperor had no clothes but were fearful of the consequences of speaking out to tell the truth.
As New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the UK, I had on a number of occasions met and talked with Ukrainian soldiers being trained by New Zealanders in Britain. It was an emotionally intense experience knowing that many of the men I met with would soon face death on the front line defending their country’s freedom and nationhood.
They were extremely grateful for New Zealand’s unwavering support. Yet the Trump Administration seemed to care little for that country’s cause and sacrifice in defending the values that a few months earlier had seemed so important to the United States.
The diplomatic community in London privately shared their dismay at Trump’s treatment of Ukraine. The spouse of one of my High Commissioner colleagues who had been a teacher drew a parallel with what she had witnessed in the playground. The bully would abuse a victim while all the other kids looked on and were too intimidated to intervene. The majority thus became the enablers of the bully’s actions.
By saying nothing, New Zealand – and many other countries – was effectively condoning and being complicit in what Trump was doing.
It was in this context, at the Chatham House meeting, that I asked a serious and important question about whether President Trump understood the lessons of history. It was a question on the minds of many. I framed it using language that was reasonable.
The lesson of history, going back to the Munich Conference in 1938, when British Prime Minister Chamberlain and his French counterpart Daladier ceded the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, was clear. Far from satisfying or placating an aggressor, appeasement only increases their demands. That’s always the case with bullies. They respect strength, not weakness.
Czechoslovakia could have been part of the Allied defence against Hitler’s expansionism but instead it and the Czech armaments industry was passed over to Hitler. He went on to take over the rest of Czechoslovakia and then invaded Poland.
As Churchill told Chamberlain, “You had the choice between dishonour and war. You chose dishonour and you will have war.”
The question needed to be asked because Trump was using talking points which followed closely those used by the Kremlin itself and was clearly setting out to appease and favour Russia.
A career diplomat, trained as a public servant to be cautious, might have not have asked it. I was appointed, with bipartisan support, not as a career diplomat but on the basis of political experience including nine years as Foreign, Trade and Defence Minister.
The question is central to the validity as well as the ethics of the United States’ approach to Ukraine. It is also a question that trusted allies, who have made sacrifices for and with each other over the past century, have a right and duty to ask.
The New Zealand Foreign Minister’s response was that the question did not reflect the view of New Zealand’s Government and that asking it made my position as High Commissioner untenable.
The Minister had the prerogative to take the action he did and I am not complaining about that for one moment. For my part, I do not regret asking the question which thanks to the Minister’s response subsequently received international attention.
Over the decades, New Zealand has earned the respect of the world, from allies and opponents alike, for honestly standing up for the values our country holds dear. The things we are proudest of as a nation in the positions we have taken internationally include our role as one of the founding states of the United Nations in promoting a rules-based international system, including our opposition to powerful states exercising a veto.
They include opposing apartheid in South Africa and French nuclear testing in the Pacific. We did not abandon our nuclear-free policy to US pressure. In wars and in peacekeeping, we have been there when it counted and have made sacrifices disproportionate to our size.
We have never been afraid to challenge aggressors or to ask questions of our allies. In asking a question about President Trump’s position on Ukraine I am content that my actions will be on the right side of history.