New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he had fired the country's ambassador to Britain over critical comments made about US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
At a forum in London, New Zealand Ambassador Phil Gough made comments that appeared to question Trump's understanding of history, drawing comparisons to British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill's actions against Nazi Germany.
"President Trump has returned a bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. "But do you think he really understands history?" Gough asked during a joint discussion with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen.
Peters said in a statement today that the New Zealand ambassador to the UK's comments were "deeply disappointing."
"They do not reflect the views of the New Zealand government," the country's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs said.
Gough, a former foreign minister and New Zealand Labour MP, was appointed ambassador to the UK in 2023.
Peters leads the "New Zealand First" party in the current right-wing coalition governing the Pacific nation.