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dictatorship’. 302 Nasser’s own position at the top of the Egyptian regime was at

stake and he had to find a solution before a crisis of confidence in him developed

within Egypt’s military ranks. At this point Trevelyan understood that Nasser was

‘prepared to take major political risks in order to obtain a decisive superiority in

armament over Israel’. 303

The Egyptians were quick in their response to the events and Nasser set out

to form his own ‘Southern Tier’ alliance that included Syria and Saudi Arabia to

stand against the Turco-Iraqi Pact. Nasser’s pact would also restrain Jordan from

attempting to join the Iraqis and would re-emphasise Egypt’s position in the Arab

World. 304

On 1 March, the day after the escalated border tension between Egypt and

Israel, Gault held a pre-arranged meeting with the Ruler of Bahrain. The Agent was

criticised by the Ruler for offering an audience on a number of occasions to Al-Bakir.

The Ruler feared that by providing Al-Bakir and his followers with an open door to

the British it had ‘encouraged them’ further with their movement. Sheikh Salman

brought to Gault’s awareness the limited finances the country received from oil

revenues in comparison with other states, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar

and its inability to compete with other regional states. In return, Gault

demonstrated the necessity for the Bahraini Administration to further publicise its

vision and works to the general public. In defending his meetings with Al-Bakir, the

302 Churchill to Eisenhower, 21 June 1954 in The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955,
edited by P.G. Boyle (Chapel Hill, NC: 1990), 147-49.
303 Trevelyan, The Middle East in Revolution, 6.
304 BDEEP, Series B, Part III, vol. 4, ‘Egypt and the Defence of the Middle East’ 1953-1956. Doc. 582:
FO 371/115496, [Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi defence association]: inward telegram no 368 from Sir R
Stevenson to FO on the response to Colonel Nasser’s defence initiative, 9 March 1955; and Wheelock,
Nasser’s New Egypt, 224.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 101