Tim Selwyn has commented on his blog that he has met the Chef Gayle, who worked at the NZ Embassy in Paris in the 2000/2001 period. He says that Gayle told him that the only negative was having to fund her way to Paris. So that indicates that the book we cited may be wrong. Nevertheless we think it a good idea for Rodney Hide or someone else to extend the timeframe for the question to maybe the last 10 years.
One commenter on Kiwiblog has suggested that Chefs are employed out of the pocket of NZ Ambassadors. We have checked and find this to be incorrect info. They and other household staff and drivers for Ambassadors are paid by Embassies and High Commissions.
There has also been interesting comment on the positive implications for New Zealand cuisine should these chefs return to NZ. Certainly we are aware that either Logan or Brown spent time working for the NZ Embassy in Brussels. This seems to have been positive.
We do wonder what Winston Peters' core constituency think about NZ Ambassadors and the supports they are provided with? Winston has been Minister now for coming on three years. What changes has he made? Of course, there are rumours that suggest that Winston might be angling for his own private chef, driver, butler and cleaning staff in London in a year's time (which is why the expendable Derek Leask has been sent as a seat warmer).
