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recommended that a clear official announcement on Belgrave’s retirement must be

issued and that he should go before the end of 1956. 728

Without knowledge of the Cabinet’s conclusions a personal letter was sent on

13 July to Lloyd by the Ruler of Bahrain in which he criticised what he considered to

be Britain’s interference in Bahrain’s local affairs, viewed by the Ruler to be an

adopted policy by HMG for the last two years adding:

The Committee of National Union are always in communication with
the British Authorities in Bahrain and are fully informed of all that
takes place between us and the British Authorities. Sometimes the
British Government policy regarding local affairs is made known to
the Committee before it is made known to us.

The letter’s objective was to defend Belgrave as the Sheikh refused comparisons

between his Adviser and to Glubb Pasha. The letter concluded (regarding Belgrave’s

status) by saying: ‘it is not our intention to dispense with his services’. 729

The letter was sent before the Ruler had known that on the same day an

unsigned document from the FO’s Eastern Department to the Residency proposed to

the Ruler to hold a private meeting with the NUC and issue a stern warning to them

that he would not submit to their threats and would not publically announce

Belgrave’s dismissal since he felt honoured not to shame the man who had assisted

him and his father for thirty years. The Eastern Department believed that ‘If the

Committee try to hasten Belgrave’s retirement, the Ruler would feel inclined to

postpone it’. It further warned that ‘it would be foolish of the Committee to make an

issue of something which is already on the way to a solution’. 730

728 TNA, CAB 128/30, Conclusions, 11 July 1956.
729 TNA, FO 371/120549, Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa to Selwyn Lloyd, 13 July 1956.
730 TNA, FO 371/120547, FO to Residency, 13 July 1956.

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