Page 208 - Begrave Thesis_Neat

received Soviet support by aiding the Egyptians in organising its intelligence

services. The plan also featured the despatch of trained Egyptian personnel (in the

form of education missions) to the Arab World who would establish communication

‘with anti-Government movements’. 575

Regardless of the accuracy of these claims, Eden, at the time leading up to the

Suez crisis, had seemed obsessed by Nasser. Nutting recalled in his memoir that

during a telephone conversation between him and Eden, he suggested earlier

various steps that should be taken to isolate Nasser. Eden viewed Nutting’s

recommendations unfavourably and exclaimed:

But what’s all this nonsense about isolating Nasser or ‘neutralising’
him, as you call it? I want him destroyed, can’t you understand? I
want him removed, and if you and the Foreign Office don’t agree, then
you’d better come to the Cabinet and explain why. 576

The Political Agent had another meeting on 15 March with four members of

the HEC. An initial agreement was reached for the official recognition of the Party

provided that Al-Bakir left Bahrain for a fixed time as requested by the Ruler and

that an enquiry into recent events was held. No objection to the Ruler’s conditions

by the HEC was recorded. At that point there seemed to be a clear division between

the members of the HEC. Al-Bakir and Al-Shamlan wished to bring the strike to a

swift end but the Shi’ite element of the Party saw themselves to be in a personal

feud (particularly with the police) following recent events. Furthermore locals from

575 Eden to Eisenhower, 15 March 1956 in The Eden-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1955-1957, edited
by P.G. Boyle, (Chapel Hill, NC: 2005), 123-24.
576 Nutting, No End of a Lesson, 34-35.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 187