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Further division between the senior members of the NUC surfaced when

intelligence reports presented to the FO through the Residency suggested that two

senior Sunni members of the NUC had sent a private letter to Al-Bakir in Egypt. The

letter criticised him for his comments made through the press. Moreover, the two

were critical of Al-Bakir ‘aligning the Movement with Egypt’. Regardless of Al-

Bakir’s activities in Egypt, the Resident believed that with Al-Bakir’s absence the

Movement had lost its allure in Bahrain. 641

Rumours once again began to circulate about the possibility that the NUC

would declare a five-day strike starting on 18 May with the likelihood of violence to

follow. More than seven hundred volunteers were ready to take part in the strike. It

was hoped that new negotiations between the Administration and the NUC would

ease the situation. 642

Eden in a short minute on the situation in Bahrain was deeply disturbed at

events on the islands. He expressed his frustration at withdrawing the idea of

having Iraqi police reinforcements on the islands and the Prime Minister exclaimed:

‘Why did it have to be conducted in this way?’ He later asserted that newspapers’

coverage of Bahrain ‘seem[ed] to be justified’. Eden added: ‘I confess that all this

shakes my confidence in Burrows and fills me with apprehension for the future

unless we make a real effort to take matters in hand’. 643 A pattern and a motivation

is beginning to emerge: Eden was concerned at how the press handled the Bahraini

issue seeing this as a judgement of his own and the Government’s work and policy.

641 TNA, FO 371/120546, Burrows to FO, 28 April 1956.
642 TNA, FO 371/120546, Burrows to FO, 3 May 1956.
643 TNA, FO 371/120546, M.97/56m, Prime Minister’s Personal Minute on Bahrain, 4 May 1956.

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