New Zealand has fired its most senior envoy to the United Kingdom (UK) over remarks that questioned US President Donald Trump's grasp of history, BBC reports.

At an event in London on Tuesday, High Commissioner Phil Goff compared efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine to the 1938 Munich Agreement, which allowed Adolf Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia.

Goff recalled how Sir Winston Churchill had criticized 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?”

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

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Goff's views did not represent those of the New Zealand government. His comments were "deeply disappointing" and made his position "untenable," Peters said

"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,"

Phil Goff is a veteran politician who had been high commissioner since January 2023. Before that, he served for two terms as mayor of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, and was leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He had also held several ministerial portfolios, including justice, foreign affairs, and defense.