WELLINGTON — New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom over his remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump's grasp of history.

High Commissioner to the UK Phil Goff's comments were "deeply disappointing" and made his position "untenable", New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

At an event in London on Tuesday, Goff compared efforts to end the war in Ukraine to the Munich Agreement in 1938, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex Czechoslovakia.

Goff recalled how Sir Winston Churchill criticised the agreement, then said of the US leader: "President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?"

Goff's comments come after Trump paused military aid to Kyiv following a heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office over the weekend.

He contrasted Trump with Churchill, who while estranged from the British government, spoke against the Munich Agreement as he saw it as a surrender to Nazi Germany's threats.

Goff quoted how Churchill rebuked then UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain: "You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war."

Peters said Goff's views do not represent that of the New Zealand government.

"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," local media reported Peters saying.

"It's not the way you behave as the front face of a country, diplomatically," he said.

Goff had been high commissioner since January 2023. Before that, he served in several ministerial portfolios, including justice, foreign affairs and defense.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark criticized Goff's sacking, saying it was backed by a "very thin excuse".

"I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 and US actions now," she wrote in a post on X. — BBC