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authority would be challenged by the ‘agitators’ as such a body would be seen to

represent the Government. Furthermore, the appointed committee members might,

the Ruler felt, view themselves equal in authority to the Government and could then

push for demands, such as the Adviser’s dismissal, a move which was rarely

mentioned but much feared. According to Burrows, the Ruler feared that such

measures ‘would betray the Adviser’, in order to satisfy ‘a gang of ignorant self-

seekers’. 177

The 15 May was marked by a visit from an unnamed Egyptian Brigadier

which Belgrave noted in his diary. 178 The Brigadier was probably Mohammed Fuad

Galal as he was recorded as having presented a talk on Arab nationalism around that

time at the Al-Urubah Club [The Pan-Arab Club] in Bahrain. 179 Galal was an aide of

Nasser who was introduced to the Egyptian leader via Heikal. He was appointed as

a member in the State’s Services Council responsible for the development of public

projects derived mainly from the confiscated wealth of the former King. 180 He was

also appointed Minister of Social Affairs in Egypt from 7 September 1952 to 18 June

1953. 181

Prior to and following the second anniversary of the Free Officers’ revolution

in Egypt, the nationalist press in Bahrain celebrated the occasion. Ali Sayyar, a local

177 TNA, FO 371/109813, Burrows to Eden, 23 June 1954.
178 Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave’s Personal Diaries, 15 May 1954.
179 T. Al-Baharna, Nadi Al-Urubah wa Sitoon A’man fi Khidmat Al-Thaqafah wa Al-Mujtama’a 1939-
1999 [Al-Aruba Club, Sixty Years of Intellectual and Social Services 1939-1999] (Manama: 1999),
229.
180 ‘Abdel-Nasser wa Heikal liqa’a “Al-Tha’er” wa “Al-Journaligy” wasat Al-Naar wa Al-Dumu’a’ [Abdel-
Nasser and Heikal, the meeting between “the revolutionary” and “the journalist” amidst the fire and
tears], Al-Sabah, (2013), <http://www.elsaba7.com/NewsPrint.aspx?Id=127524> [accessed 21
December 2015].
181 Al-Ra’ees Mohammed Naguib [President Mohammed Naguib],
<http://naguib.bibalex.org/DocumentForm.aspx?Page=13> [accessed 3 January 2016].

© Hamad E. Abdulla 58