Hamish Cooper named as new ambassador to London to replace Phil Goff
Getty Images / Hannah Peters
A former New Zealand Ambassador to Japan, Russia, and Turkey has been appointed the new High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Hamish Cooper, whose diplomatic career at the Ministry of foreign affairs and trade spans 40 years, will take up the role in September.
The vacancy came up in the highly sought after London post after Foreign Minister Winston Peters sacked former Labour MP and minister Phil Goff from the position in March.
Peters said it "untenable" for Goff to remain in the job after his candid criticism of US President Donald Trump at an event in London.
Video from the event shows Goff [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543936/winston-peters-sacks-phil-goff-as-uk-high-commissioner-over-comments-about-donald-trump
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?"
Peters told reporters at Parliament at the time that the decision to sack Goff was one of the most difficult things he has had to do.
Goff, a former Leader of the Labour Party and former Mayor of Auckland, had been in the role since January 2023.
In a statement on Friday Peters said Cooper was one of New Zealand's most "senior and experienced diplomats and is eminently well-qualified to take on this significant role".
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