Winston Peters, left, and Helen Clark. Photo: Nick Monro
Former prime minister Helen Clark says comments Phil Goff made about Donald Trump were not a sackable offence, and he should have instead received a call from the Foreign Affairs minister telling him to pull his head in.
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What was actually wrong with what Phil Goff said?
Winston Peters said Goff's question at a public event over whether Trump understood history left his position as High Commissioner untenable.
During a Q&A session at Chatham House, the High Commissioner said: "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.'
"President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?"
Clark, who preceded Goff as Labour leader, said it was a "clever question, well-informed by history, and probably better not asked," but said it was a thin excuse for his removal.
"Phil thinks like a politician more than a diplomat, but in the end he expressed a point of view that a lot of people would agree with. It's an issue of 'was it sackable' or was it a matter for the Minister or the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to pick up the phone and say 'hey Phil, not representing us, pull your head in'."
Clark said the comments were made at Chatham House, which has a reputation for free and frank dialogue, and there was a lesson to be learned by High Commissioners.
Speaking to RNZ at Labour's State of the Nation event in Auckland, Clark said the present government was bending over backwards not to cause any offence to the Trump administration.
"Unfortunately, that means that things that probably should be said by the government itself, whether that's a defence of the International Criminal Court, or calling for a decent solution to the Gaza crisis, rather than the Riviera proposal, or for example commenting on the dreadful things that are being done to Ukraine's capacity to defend itself.
"So New Zealand is being cautious to the point of looking a little odd among Western nations now."
Clark said New Zealand was keeping a very low profile on these international issues.
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