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future.  Eden, it seems, preferred for negotiations to stall rather than to secretly plot

                   Belgrave’s demise. 581


                          On 16 March the FO’s Eastern Department instructed the Resident that any


                   move to displace Belgrave at this point ‘would be a great blow to British prestige in

                   Bahrain and in the whole of the Gulf’.  It also proposed three moves: the hiring of an


                   Assistant Adviser to replace Belgrave, the hiring of an Iraqi or Pakistani Adviser to

                   replace the Adviser, and dividing the position of the Adviser into two different


                   posts. 582   Burrows then informed the Ruler Britain’s support of the Administration

                   and its ‘retention of Belgrave’. 583


                          With this directive in mind the Resident urged the FO to consider hiring an

                   assistant to the Adviser who would gradually take over the Adviser’s work, saying


                   that this would improve public opinion and maintain British prestige.  Belgrave’s

                   status had not been a matter for debate in recent negotiations, but the nationalists


                   spread rumours that Belgrave was soon to leave his post.  The Residency, in return,

                   warned the Party about repeating such claims and threatened that -- if it continued -


                   - they would have to issue a public statement on the matter. 584   A possible

                   explanation as to why the Party spread rumours of Belgrave’s departure was to


                   appease their supporters and convince strikers to suspend the strike.  585

                          The Government of Bahrain issued an official communication, signed by


                   Belgrave, on 16 March recognising the opposition under the new name of the




                   581  TNA, FO 371/120549, M.45/56, Prime Minister’s Personal Minute, 17 March 1956.
                   582  TNA, FO 371/120544, D.M.H. Riches from FO to Residency, 16 March 1956.
                   583  TNA, FO 371/120544, Burrows to FO, 17 March 1956.
                   584  TNA, FO 1016/465, Despatch 231, Burrows to FO, 16 March 1956.
                   585  TNA, FO 1016/465, Despatch 81, Burrows to FO, 17 March 1956.


                   © Hamad E. Abdulla                       189
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