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FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
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C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR-BWEISEL 
STATE FOR EB/TPP/MTA-MBGOODMAN AND EAP/ANP-DRICCI 
COMMERCE FOR ABENAISSA/4530/ITA/MAC/AP/OSAO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2016 
TAGS: ETRD PGOV PREL NZ
SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND'S PM SORTS OUT MINISTERS' PORTFOLIOS 
 
REF: 05 WELLINGTON 807 
 
(U) Classified by: Political-Economic Counselor Katherine B. 
Hadda.  Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) New Zealand Prime Minister Clark has decided that Jim 
Sutton, who on December 31 wrapped up his tenure as trade 
negotiations minister, will remain a minister of state inside 
Cabinet.  Former Foreign Minister Phil Goff has taken over as 
trade negotiations minister.  The prime minister provided 
Sutton with a face-saving way to be eased out of an important 
role in government, while not answering critics who 
questioned why she put out to pasture a seasoned and 
effective trade negotiator at a critical stage in the World 
Trade Organization talks. 
 
¶2. (U) After the September 17 elections in which Sutton lost 
his electorate seat but returned to Parliament by virtue of 
his ranking on the Labour Party's at-large list, PM Clark 
designated Goff as the next trade negotiations minister -- a 
position that Sutton had held for six years.  Clark on 
December 22 appointed Sutton as a minister of state, and the 
turnover in the trade negotiations portfolio was postponed to 
December 31 to allow Sutton to participate in the Doha Round 
negotiations in Hong Kong.  In late January, Clark informed 
government ministers that Sutton would remain in Cabinet, a 
privilege not usually extended to ministers of state. 
 
¶3. (C) The prime minister had given Goff the option of 
removing from his portfolio the responsibility for 
representing New Zealand at WTO talks, but he chose not to do 
so, according to an adviser.  Goff -- who attended the WTO 
mini-ministerial in January in Davos, Switzerland -- also is 
the minister of defense, disarmament and arms control, 
Pacific Island affairs and trade. 
 
¶4. (C) Sutton had lost touch with his electorate due in large 
part to his globe-trotting role as trade negotiations 
minister.  At age 64, he is perceived to be in the twilight 
of his legislative career.  There also is no love lost 
between the prime minister and Sutton, who in 1996 was one of 
five Labour MPs who asked Clark to step aside as party 
leader.  Meanwhile, giving Goff the trade negotiations 
portfolio was seen as a means to compensate him for 
sacrificing his previous position as foreign minister, which 
went to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as a prize 
for his support in forming the government (reftel). 
 
¶5. (U) Sutton will focus on bilateral and regional trade 
issues, lead trade missions and back up Goff in the WTO talks. 
 
¶6. (U) Biographies of Sutton and Goff can be found on Embassy 
Wellington's website on the classified intranet: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/wellington. 
McCormick