Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced a diplomat, rather than a politician, has been appointed to succeed Phil Goff as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. The job has gone to Hamish Cooper, described by Peters as “one of New Zealand’s most senior and experienced diplomats and is eminently well-qualified to take on this significant role.”
Over his 40-year career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Cooper has held several important roles including as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Japan, Russia, and Türkiye. He will take up the role in September.
He is not the first professional diplomat to serve as our High Commissioner in London.
But right from the start, the post has often been filled by politicians.
The first appointment was Isaac Earl Featherston, the first editor of the Wellington Independent who served in the first, second, third, and fourth Parliaments.
He served as Colonial Secretary (forerunner to the modern Minister of Internal Affairs) in 1861, and as Minister without Portfolio from 1869 to 1871,
From 1871 he was the first Agent-General for the colony in London, the precursor to the High Commissioner.
He was succeeded in the London post by Sir Julius Vogel, the eighth premier of New Zealand.
In more recent years, the post has been filled by
He is not the first professional diplomat to serve as our High Commissioner in London.
But right from the start, the post has often been filled by politicians.
The first appointment was Isaac Earl Featherston, the first editor of the Wellington Independent who served in the first, second, third, and fourth Parliaments.
He served as Colonial Secretary (forerunner to the modern Minister of Internal Affairs) in 1861, and as Minister without Portfolio from 1869 to 1871,
From 1871 he was the first Agent-General for the colony in London, the precursor to the High Commissioner.
He was succeeded in the London post by Sir Julius Vogel, the eighth premier of New Zealand.
In more recent years, the post has been filled by
George Gair (1991- 1994),
Paul East (1999- 2002),
Russell Marshall (2002- 2005),
Jonathan Hunt (2005- 2008),
Lockwood Smith (2013- 2017)
And
Phil Goff (2023- 6 March 2025 when he was given the heave-ho because of some undiplomatic remarks he made about a bloke called Donald Trump).
But let’s wrap up this post with a recollection of a time when a newspaper editor’s trenchant writing might result in something stronger than abuse from outraged readers.
Wikipedia tells of a duel on 24 March 1847 which was fought in Wellington between Isaac Featherston and Colonel William Wakefield over a newspaper editorial written by Featherston on the topic of New Zealand Company land policy which questioned Wakefield’s honesty.
Featherston fired and missed. Then Wakefield fired into the air, saying he would not shoot a man with seven daughters.
Perhaps Wakefeld was a better bloke than he is often portrayed.
Wikipedia says:
In 2003, the Waitangi Tribunal investigated the New Zealand Company’s 1839 Port Nicholson deed of purchase and declared it invalid. The tribunal found that Māori were never paid for some 120,000 acres (49,000 ha), the boundaries weren’t clear, not all those with customary rights signed the deed, and those who did sign didn’t understand it, as it was in English and Richard Barrett’s translation missed or confused several important facts.
Maori weren’t the only victims. One settler is said to have written that “the baneful influence of Colonel Wakefield has ruined every settler and the colony of Port Nicholson.”
Nevertheless. when he died in 1848, he was given what amounted to a state funeral attended by Governor George Grey and almost half of Wellington, both Māori and Pākeha.
Māori chief Hōniana Te Puni-kōkopu was one of the pallbearers.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
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