Kerre Woodham: Phil Goff stuffed up royally and paid the price

Crikey, I barely stepped away from the microphone yesterday and we had a double whammy news-wise. Phil Goff sacked as High Commissioner to London for an intemperate comment and question, Greg Foran resigning as Air New Zealand CEO. I heard someone on The Huddle with Ryan Bridge last night saying Greg Foran can now become the High Commissioner, Adrian Orr would become Air New Zealand CEO, and Phil Goff will take over as Reserve Bank Governor - all change.  

Boy, will Phil Goff be kicking himself all the way back to New Zealand, all the way back to the farm at Clevedon. You are on the pig's back when you get a gig like that – it is a sweet deal. And one intemperate comment ...  I think he was just trying to be a bit too clever, showing he's done his homework, showing that he was well read, making appointed remark about somebody the world regards as a graceless buffoon (well, members of Phil Goff's world regard as a graceless buffoon), and he loses his gig, and rightly so.   

He was asking a question of the Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister at a Chatham House event in London. Goff said he'd been rereading a speech by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the Munich Agreement. “He turned to Chamberlain, he said ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have a war’,” Goff then said “President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?” So Phil Goff was making it well researched, clever-dick, pointed remark about the American president. What on Earth did he think was going to happen? He was stripped of his position immediately by Winston Peters. The Foreign Affairs Minister said Phil Goff’s comments were deeply disappointing. They did not represent the views of the New Zealand Government and made his position as High Commissioner to London untenable.   

So a number of comments around that. Phil Goff was sacked by Winston Peters immediately. Winston Peters did not have to consult the Prime Minister before doing so – there was no need for him to consult. He was presented with a problem in his own department, and he dealt with it in the appropriate fashion. That's why you have managers, that’s why you have ministers. Everything doesn't filter up to the CEO. Imagine in your own organisation if every single decision in your department had to go to the CEO. Why have a dog and bark yourself? So there was no need to consult.   

Was he sacked because the Government's sucking up, particularly to Donald Trump in the US? No. As Winston Peters pointed out yesterday, and as numerous foreign affairs experts have concurred, Phil Goff would have been sacked if he had made the comment of any foreign leader. When you're in a diplomatic role, you have to be diplomatic, and that wasn't.   

And what about the Chatham House rules? Chatham House is an actual place where people congregate to debate, discuss ideas primarily around foreign policy, but also about other things. It's a meeting place for pointy heads where they can float and toss ideas around, and they don't have to worry about it being attributable back to them. The rules say when a meeting or part thereof is held under the Chatham House rules, participants are free to use the information received but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. So Chatham House rules guarantee people can speak freely within the walls.  

But in this case, the Chatham House rules had not been invoked because it was being live streamed, so you're not going to be able to shield the identity of the speakers because it's being live streamed. So that's why the comments became public, despite the fact they were in Chatham House – oh irony of ironies. The rules have to be invoked. They weren’t, and apparently, according to Chatham House, it's not terribly often that they are. So there we go. That's what happened.  

He stuffed up royally and he’s paid the price. And nobody will be more disappointed, I imagine, than Phil Goff except Mrs Goff because that would have been a lovely reward for a long period of time being an uxorious, fabulous support. Being a politician's partner or spouse would not be an easy gig. So you get the cushy number in London, feet up, gorgeous little holidays popping off around Europe. Now back to the farm in Clevedon, tail between the legs. Back on the ride on mower, no gardener for you anymore. He's had his punishment. He's heading home and Winston Peters did exactly the right thing. Ten out of ten for the Foreign Affairs Minister. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the carrywood. In morning's podcast from News Talks,
he'd b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Crikey, I'd barely stepped away from the microphone yesterday and
we have a double whammy news wise. Phil Golf sacked
as High Commissioner to London for an intemperate comment in
question Greg Fouran resigning as Air New Zealand CEO. I
had someone on the huddle with Ryan Bridge last night
saying right, well, Greg Foran can now become the High Commissioner,

(00:33):
Adrian Or would come Air New Zealand CEO and Phil
Golf will take over as reserve bankuff all change. We'll
deal with Phil Golf first, boy, you'll be kicking himself
all the way back to New Zealand, all the way
back to the farm at Cleveden. You are on the
pig's back when you get a gig like that. It

(00:54):
is a sweet deal and one intemperate comment just I
think he was just trying to be a bit too
clever nowing he's done his homework showing that he was
well read, making a pointed remark about somebody the world

(01:14):
regards as a graceless buffoon. We members of Phil Goff's
world regard as a graceless buffoon, and he loses his gig,
and rightly so. So he was asking a question of
the Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister at a Chathamhouse event in London.
Goff said he had been rereading a speech by former

(01:35):
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill after the Munich agreement. He
turned to Chamberlain. He said, you had the choice between
war and dishonor you chose dishonor yet you will have
a war. Goff then said President Trump has restored the
bust of Churchill to the Oval Office, but do you
think he really understands history? So Phil Goff was making

(01:57):
it well researched Clever Dick pointed remark about the American president,
what on earth did he think was going to happen?
He was stripped of his position immediately by Winston Peters.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, said Phil Goff's comments were deeply disappointing,

(02:18):
they did not represent the views of the New Zealand
government and made his position as High Commissioner to London untenable.
So a number of comments around that Phil Goff was
sacked by Winston Peters immediately. Winston Peters did not have
to consult the Prime Minister before doing so. There was
no need for him to consult. He was presented with

(02:38):
a problem in his own department and he dealt with
it in the appropriate fashion. He that's why you have managers,
That's why you have ministers. Everything doesn't filter up to
the CEO. You'd imagine, imagine in your own organization if
every single decision in your department had to go to
the CEO, why have a dog and bark yourself? So

(03:03):
there was no need to consult. Was he sacked because
the government's sucking up, particularly to Donald Trump in the US. No,
As Winston Peter's pointed out yesterday, and as numerous foreign
affairs experts have concurred, Phil Goff would have been sacked
if he'd made the comment of any foreign leader, when

(03:23):
you're in a diplomatic role, you have to meet diplomatic
and that wasn't And what about the Chatterhouse rules? Chathamhouse
is an actual place where people congregate to debate discuss ideas,
primarily around foreign policy, but also about other things. It's
a meeting place for pointy heads where they can float

(03:46):
ideas and they can toss ideas around and they don't
have to worry about it being attributable back to them.
The rules say when a meeting or part thereof is
held under the Chathamhouse Rules, participants are free to use
the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation
of the speakers, nor that of any other participant may
be revealed. So Chathamhouse rules guarantee people can speak freely

(04:09):
within the walls. It's a bit like sometimes you've had
after dinner speakers. I'm thinking of Steve Williams, I think
got into trouble with comments he made at and after
dinner function years ago. He thought it was Chatham House
rules that when you're within the walls you can speak
freely and nobody's going to report on it. Always best
to be very clear about the Chathamhouse rules. But in

(04:32):
this case, the Chathamhouse rules had not been invoked because
it was being live streamed. So you're not going to
be able to shield the identity of the speakers because
it's being live streamed. So that's why the comments became
public despite the fact they were in Chathamhouse. Oh, irony

(04:53):
of ironies. The rules have to be invoked. They weren't
and apparently, according to Chantham House, it's not terribly often
that they are. So there we go. That's what happen.
He's stuffed up royally and he's paid the price, and
nobody will be more disappointed, I imagine than phil Goth except

(05:16):
missus Goff, because that would have been a lovely reward
for a long period of time, being an uxorious, fabulous support.
Being a politician's partner or spouse would not be an
easy gig. So you get the cushy number in London,
feet up, gorgeous little holidays popping off around Europe. Now

(05:41):
back to the farm in Clevedon, tail between the legs,
back on the ride on Moher, No gardener for you anymore.
He's had his punishment, he's heading home, and Winston Peters
did exactly the right thing. Ten out of ten for
the Foreign Affairs Minister.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
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