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Belgrave out, but two or three years after he went they were crying to have him

back’. 894

Although the NUC had ceased to exist as a movement by the end of 1956, the

effects it had on constitutional developments, both directly and indirectly continued

to be felt. 895 The Penal Code was implemented in November 1956. The Health and

Education Councils continued work but through appointed members. On 21

February the two Councils were restructured, each one consisting of eight members,

five of whom were selected by the four municipalities of Manama, Muharraq, Riffa,

and Hidd. The Ruler appointed the remaining three members. 896 The

Administration Council continued its work, 897 and work on the Labour Ordinance

was completed by 29 July to come into effect officially on 1 January 1958. 898

Municipal elections had been held before the rise of the NUC, but a return to public

elections for the municipalities was declared in early 1958. 899

According to Burrows there were two driving forces to the NUC. The first

was the resentment felt by some Bahraini Shi’ites’ (from a sectarian standpoint)

towards the Sunni ruling family. The second was a ‘genuine wish for reform, partly

by half-backed Arab nationalism of the usual kind’. 900 As to the Party’s failure,

Mehdi Al-Tajir, the son of Mohsin Al-Tajir one of the frontline members of the NUC,

blamed the policies adopted by Al-Bakir and Al-Shamlan. In Mehdi’s view the two

894 Quoted in Mapp, Leave Well Alone, 293.
895 TNA, FO 371/126869, Charles Gault’s Annual Review of Bahrain Affairs for 1956.
896 TNA, FO 371/126895, Health and Education Councils, 21 February 1957.
897 TNA, FO 371/140064, Annual Review of Bahrain Affairs for 1958, 31 December 1958.
898 ‘Bahrain Monthly Report: For the Five Weeks ended Tuesday, 30 July, 1957’, in Political Diaries of
the Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-3.
899 TNA, FO 371/132748, Charles Gault’s Annual Review of Bahrain Affairs for 1957.
900 TNA, FO 1016/552, Burrows to FO, 4 April 1957.

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