Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / James Headley: Otago University International Relations Expert on Phil Goff being fired for making comments about Trump

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James Headley: Otago University International Relations Expert on Phil Goff being fired for making comments about Trump · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Phil Goff has gone from London. Winston Peters has sacked
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the High Commissioner over this question. He asked Finland's Foreign
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Minister during a public q and a at Chatham House.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: I was rereading Churchill's speech to the House of Commons
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty eight after the Munich agreement, and he
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: turned to Chamberlain. He said, you had the choice between
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: war and designer. You chose designer, Yet you will have war.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Oval Office, but do you think he really understands history?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: And that's what was all it took for him to
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: lose a very cushy job. Peter says the comments were
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: very disappointing, in fact, deeply disappointing. We've got the head
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of politics at the University of Otarget with me today,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: James Headley.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Morning morning, Andrew.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: So was that really a sackable offense?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: I think usually it wouldn't be. But Peters was aware
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: that Trump is so sensitive about anybody questioning him that
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: he obviously got fright and thought he had to demonstrate something.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Many people have said. The thing is, if you'd said
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: that as a politician. If you'd say that as a
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: New Zealand citizen, as he said that as an ex
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Prime minister, it would all be fine. But the problem
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: is now he's a diplomat. Is that true?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I agree with that. It was at
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Chatham House, so we have something called Chatham House rules,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: which normally means that you can say what you reckoned,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: it can't be printed or broadcast. But this was actually
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: a public event. It was broadcast fairly obscure event, not
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: usually getting focused from across the globe, but somebody picked
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: up on it and he identified himself as the British
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: High commission as the New Zealand High Commissioner, So it
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: was public and as you say, it was something that
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: as a politician he would have been quite free to
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: see such things. And he was a politician, and I
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: think he did step out of his role there. There's
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a bit of a it wasn't ye.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, It's a time and place thing, isn't it. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: that wasn't the time and that wasn't the place it appears.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean what we have to do is distinguished
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: with what he said and the fact that he said
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: it as High commission in this sensitive time. I mean,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I agree with what he said, and I think many
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: people do, probably including in the government. Here. It's as
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: you said the time, all the sensitivity, and we saw
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: publicly how President Trump even humiliates those who seem to
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: challenge him over Ukraine. So I think Whenstan Peters felt
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: for New Zealand's interests, he had to do a public
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: act in response.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: All right, well, let's move on, and who and what
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: do we need out of the next High commissioner?
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Well, possibly a career diplomat, because I think this is
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: the challenge when you have somebody who as a former politician,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: or sometimes you have people from other aspects of public
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: life who maybe sort of slip into modes that they're
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: not trained to do. So I wouldn't be surprised to
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: see if least a person from emphat or somebody who
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: served in kind of key roles elsewhere.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: All right, James, enjoy your weekend. Thank you for joining
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: us early this morning. That is James Hidley, who is
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the head of politics at the Otaga University.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:17
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• 3:20
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