Let’s be clear – Phil Goff was 100% right and Winston Peters was a coward

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
43
871

Winston Peters sacks Phil Goff as UK High Commissioner over comments about Donald Trump

The foreign affairs minister says Phil Goff’s position as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom is “untenable,” following public comments about US President Donald Trump.

Video shows Goff speaking at a Chatham House event with Finland’s foreign minister, and during a Q&A the two were discussing how Finland kept the peace in its border with Russia.

“I was re-reading Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons in 1938 after the Munich Agreement, and he turned to Chamberlain, he said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’,” Goff said.

“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”

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Let’s be clear – Phil Goff was 100% right and Winston was a coward.

Couple of things:

1 – The irony of this being reported from Chatham House when Chatham House Rules were in effect.

2 – The irony of Winston Churchill’s namesake, Winston Peters, being such a coward by sacking Goff.

3 – It all highlights how terrified everyone is of the mad Orange King going ape at us.

Phil Goff was 1000% right to ask the question and actually stood up against American Aggression by highlighting NZ is an independent nation for asking the question.

Trump is aligning with Putin because his fanatical Libertarian Billionaire friend group believe Russia teaming up with America is the best way to fight China.

Pointing out this terrible strategic blunder by asking if the President understood history and getting sacked for it is a slap in the face to those watching from history.

Imagine Roosevelt had told Churchill to surrender to Hitler and give America 50% of their coal reserves with no promise to defend Britain if Germany attacked again…

Phil Goff was right and Winston Peters was a coward.

 

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43 COMMENTS

  1. I’m not sure that Chatham House rules were in effect. Goff may have *thought* they were. Regardless of whether he was right or wrong in what he said, he was behaving as a politician, not as a diplomat.

  2. You and I know Goff was wrong to say what he did in his roll as a diplomat as it was not diplomatic despite being true.
    Goff has made other blunders for which he could have been sacked .
    Hipkins agreed with Winston .

  4. Just because the event was held at ChathamHouse doesn’t mean that Chatham House Rules were in effect. Mister Goff would have to be naive in the extreme to believe that.

    Mister Goff asked an unanswerable question in order to make a smartarse political point. Pure, pointless, performance politics. Pathetic.

  5. Chatham house rules were not in effect, they have to be invoked. He was there as a diplomat not a politician.

    But hey, if this was a hill that he wanted to die on then that’s his right. Just as it was Winston’s right to justifiably sack him for not doing what he was being paid to do.

      • Oh god no. He’s a career politician.

        Will it stop him from doing something equally stupid in the future? Well as I said he’s a career politician so I doubt it.

  6. Just Winston sucking up to Trump again .He is going there next week or some time soon so no doubt he will come back and hand Luxon his warrant as Govener of the 51 st state of the USA .

  7. Doctor Johnstone was right;
    ‘Diplomat a man who lies abroad for the good of his country.’
    As Phil Goff is not in the USA and,not talking to an American, I cannot see what the fuss is about.
    The U.S. Ambassadors to New Zealand and other countries have seldom worried about our feelings.

    It is ironic that Churchill is invoked. In 1940 The United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joe Kennedy stated publicly, many times, that Britain was finished, should make a deal with Hitler and that Winston Churchill was a major impediment to World peace.

    Kennedy left his job voluntarily shortly before the Japanese delivered their almighty kick up the American arse.

    But anyway the High Commissioner’s job is mainly a sinecure for retired politicians of all stripes. It involves little in the way of actual work and any senile old fart can manage the job.
    I suggest we send Trevor as replacement.

    • Yes send Trev and all his pets: Anus, I B Wrong, Jimmy Brownstain, Snow Whitey Tighty, Gaby Baby, Observatory, Henry Dirt Muck Filth, Jonzie Ponzi and their robot canine Bob the Fart.

  8. “how Finland kept the peace in its border with Russia.”
    Well, in the period it was at peace, after its alliance with Nazi Germany didn’t work out, it was by staying neutral and buying a lot of superior Soviet and Russian military hardware and trading like a civilized country. Obviously that period is long gone with its open support for American imperialism.

  9. A lot of people seem to think Winston was right. I am not convinced that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has the authority to hire and fire our Ambassadors. Have a feeling that the ultimate decision of who represents us lies with the Prime Minister. Does anyone know? Including Luxon himself?

    • If you googlevthe question you will be told NZ Foreign affair Minister appoints diplomats so Winston is the man to do the job .He is performing far better than I expected and feel confident in him fronting this Nation overseas.

  10. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the matter, the fact is, like most politicians, bland as cardboard Goff lacks wit – if he had any he might have used another Churchill quote – “Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”

      • Our High Commissioner to the UK, Phil Goff criticised the carve up of Ukraine by the Americans and Russians.

        Goff compared the proposed division of Ukraine today, to the division of Czechoslovakia between the Western powers and Germany in 1938, that allowed the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland.

        Malcolm sides with Peters at being embarrassed on Trump’s behalf at this comparison. Malcolm Evans as a big supporter of Russian imperialism in Ukraine, it is only a small step from there to supporting American imperialism in Ukraine.
        No one should be surprised.

    • This must be a confusing time for you Malcolm. Finding yourself on the same as Winston Peters and Donald Trump against Phil Goff and the people of Ukraine.
      Russia is an imperialist country, America is an imperialist country. America wants Ukraine’s minerals, Russia wants Ukraine’s grain
      Both Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the division of Ukraine. Ukraine was not invited,

      If the elephants are making war or making love the ants still get trampled.African proverb..

      The carve up of Ukraine, between the big powers, over the objections of its people and government, is a traditional feature of imperialism, that the people of Africa know well.

      President Zelensky wants an American Security Guarantee against further Russian imperialist aggression. President Trump wants Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, but doesn’t want to provide Ukraine with a security guarantee against any further Russian aggression. Trump couldn’t care less about what Russia does in Ukraine as long as the US can get access to Ukraine’s minerals.

    • ‘In our Thousands in our millions we are all Palestinians’

      From Forbes:

      Trump Planning On Canceling Legal Status For 240,000 Ukrainians Who Fled War With Russia, Report Says
      By Ty Roush Forbes Staff Mar 6, 2025, 09:43am EST

      ….The revocation is expected as soon as April and could set up the Ukrainians for deportation, according to Reuters, citing a senior Trump administration official and three sources familiar with the matter.
      The move would complement a larger effort by the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status for more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the U.S. under humanitarian parole programs created by President Joe Biden, the sources said…

      From the Strait Times:

      Trump Administration Plans To Revoke Legal Status For 240,000 Ukrainians
      The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week.
      By Team StratNews; – Mar 07 2025, 01:00

      https://stratnewsglobal.com/united-states/trump-administration-plans-to-revoke-legal-status-for-240000-ukrainians/

      …..It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants…..
      ……The administration plans to revoke parole for about 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans as soon as this month, the Trump official and one of the sources familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
      The plan to revoke parole for those nationalities was first reported by CBS News.
      Migrants stripped of their parole status could face fast-track deportation proceedings, according to an internal ICE email seen by Reuters…..

  11. We’ll find out if showing Trump that you are weak and subservient is a good defence against his madness.
    Winston may be procedurally correct, but tactically wrong.

  12. Thinking people are all cowards these days; before showing spirit, honesty and nobility may have to be shelved temporarily until the signal for normal transmission resumes. Diplomacy meaning sending messages with one hand and giving the finger with the other seems to be the order of the day. So don’t be too harsh if pollies can’t reach our level of probity; they are on a different planet and might lose their emoluments and perks, while we end up with likely liniments and ointments or personal ruination.

  13. Blood on their hands

    Russian strikes on Ukraine kill 20 as US cuts intelligence sharing with Kyiv
    AP March 09, 2025 •05:08am

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360607435/russian-strike-ukrainian-town-kills-11-us-cuts-intelligence-sharing-kyiv

    “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” Polish President Donald Tusk wrote on X Saturday, referring to the Trump administration. “More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine.”

    …..The barrage came after the US suspended military aid and intelligence to Ukraine to pressure it into accepting a peace deal being pushed by the Trump administration.
    When asked Friday by a reporter during an Oval Office exchange if Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking advantage of the US pause on intelligence-sharing to attack Ukraine, Trump responded: “I think he’s doing what anybody else would.”     [By ‘anybody else’ Trump means, what Russia is doing, is what the US would do, and what Israel is doing]

    this is the sort diplomacy at the point of a gun, that Phil Goff was objecting to. And which Winston Peters is now endorsing.

    Phil Goff can leave his glittering post as High Commissioner to the UK with his head held high.

    Winston Peters can slink away like the unprincipled political opportunist he has always been.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/peters-accused-of-opportunism/WMRY3VGVYM5XBY3HS73MBK3I2A/

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2023/08/13/winston-the-master-opportunist/

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/live-updates/15-02-2022/winston-peters-calls-for-end-to-mandates-denies-being-opportunistic

  14. Phil Goff should be invited to Kyiv to accept an honoury award for standing up for Ukraine at personal cost.

    Even better if the government in Kyiv proffered Phil Goff as New Zealand’s resident consul to Ukraine.

    It would really piss off the Tankies, and be a chance for Phil Goff to really show his commitment to Ukraine’s freedom.

  15. Phil Goff should be invited to Kyiv to accept an honoury award for standing up for Ukraine at personal cost.

    Even better if the government in Kyiv proffered Phil Goff as New Zealand’s resident consul to Ukraine.

    It would really piss off the Tankies, and be a chance for Phil Goff to demonstrate his commitment to Ukraine’s freedom, not just in words but in action.

  16. Too bad it was a journo who informed Peters of Goffs remark, and then fired him. No one woulda known or cared about it, but now everyone knows because the scandal is that the NZ High Commissioner got fired…not what he said, which was very weak sauce anyway- ill advised and a bit of a vainglorious ta dum comment but Peters got international browney points there (read attention ) … and the eye of Mordor swivels our way.

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