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of parliamentary government turning the Administration later into a seemingly anti-

British one. 420 Gault also believed that the HEC aimed through this new dispute to

gain ‘maximum profit from the Ruler’s refusal by accusing him of breaking his

promises and by threatening retaliation by way of strikes and demonstrations’. 421

With matters still in deadlock, the HEC unexpectedly forwarded to the

Adviser its intention to continue negotiations with the Ruler and also retreated from

its earlier decision that insisted on the two points they believed were omitted by the

Ruler. Sheikh Salman agreed to continue discussions and went a step further when

he decided to have all three councils completely independent of Government. He

further promised to appoint ‘trained legal men’ to advise local judges and direct

them on how to implement the new Penal Code, once it was authorised. The

Residency welcomed the HEC’s decision to end the deadlock and withdraw its

insistence on the two points of dispute. 422 A possible explanation of the HEC’s

sudden change of heart was that the Party realised that their stubbornness could

lead to a loss of all political gains in the long run.

Although tensions had reduced following the recent agreement between the

two sides, the Residency feared that the independence of the councils would allow

for the eventual replacement of British experts and professionals by Egyptians. 423

The Residency’s fear was not altogether unfounded; on 21 October Al-Watan

published an article about an Egyptian medical doctor who was banned from

practicing in Bahrain. The newspaper exclaimed, ‘What will the position of the

420 TNA, FO 371/114587, Burrows to FO, 25 October 1955.
421 TNA, FO 371/114587, Gault to Burrows, 20 November 1955.
422 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Report for the Month of November 1955’, 1-7 (2).
423 TNA, FO 371/114587, Burrows to FO, 28 October 1955.

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