Speaking at international think tank Chatham House on Tuesday, Phil Goff made a comparison between Trump’s efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the 1938 agreement signed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the leaders of France and Germany.

The agreement gave Adolf Hitler permission to annex part of Czechoslovakia. The Nazi leader invaded Poland a year later, triggering World War II.

“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,'” the former Auckland mayor and foreign minister said.

“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters later fired Goff over his comments and said he would have done the same if he had said something similar about other countries.

“If he (Goff) had made that comment about Germany, France, Tonga, or Samoa, I’d have been forced to act,” Peters told journalists.

“It’s seriously regrettable and one of the most difficult things one has had to do in his whole career.”

“I’ve worked with Phil Goff, I’ve known him for a long time,” said Peters, adding that Goff’s comments were “seriously disappointing”.

“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.”

The move was not without its critics, including former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark.

“I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 & US actions now.”