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supporters of the NUC although he gave no details about what was said and shed no

light onto the views expressed. He, nevertheless, recalled as he conducted the

interviews that the NUC spokesmen with whom he spoke ‘were educated and

polished’ at the schools founded by the Ruler and his Adviser. The situation to the

journalist called to mind a line from Shakespeare’s King Lear: ‘“How sharper than a

serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child’”. Alsop, likewise, saw the situation in

Bahrain to ‘make good material for the most sardonic sort of political comedy’. 646

In May the Board of Enquiry concluded its investigation into the ‘Month of

March incidents’ but the findings were not published until June. Following the

Board’s conclusion, a pamphlet was issued by the NUC. It criticised the Board’s

decision to conclude its work without interviewing all possible witnesses the Party

believed were involved in the disturbance from the police’s side. 647 The claim by the

NUC was accurate, as a conflict had developed earlier between the Board of Enquiry

and Colonel Hamersley over the latter’s refusal to have further policemen

interviewed by the Board. Hamersley believed that the investigation affected the

police’s morale and he threatened to resign. Belgrave suggested having the Board

interview the officers at the Police Fort instead of the temporary headquarter set up

for the Board, a matter that was rejected by the Board. Furthermore, the Board

wished to have the proceedings open to the public, which also proved to be a point

of difficulty. 648

646 J.W. Alsop, ‘The Serpent’s Tooth’, Chicago Sun-Times, 8 May 1956, 24.
647 TNA, FO 1016/467, The National Union Committee: Pamphlet No. 51, 6 May 1956.
648 TNA, FO 1016/467, Residency to FO, 10 May 1956.

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