Page 48 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

24 I hc Origins of the United Arab Emirates

to the 1 rucial Coast, it was generally accepted that they would
follow live same lines as those for Bahrain: that the India Office
would instruct policy, and would act together with the Colonial
Office on matters involving relations with I fin Sa‘ud.
But the raison d'etre of the Middle East Department was diminished
by the steadily rising power of Ibn Sa‘ud, and, in Iraq, the increasing
demands for complete independence. In 1928, a closer examination
of the machinery of control in the Gulf was decided on by the
Committee of Imperial Defence (CID),22 following a proposal by
the Government of India, agreed by the India Office, that it have
restored to it the degree of control removed in 1921. In March
i929j the Persian Gulf Sub-Committee ol the Committee of Imperial
Defence set up an ad hoc sub-committee under the chairmanship
of Sir Warren Fisher, Secretary to the Treasury, ‘To make rccommcn-
dations as to the methods by which the existing machinery for
political control in Arabia can be simplified and speeded up.’23
The report, which was delivered in December, recommended the
setting up of two standing co-ordinating sub-committees of the CID—
one ministerial, the other official—to deal with Middle Eastern
questions concerning two or more Departments. It was recommended
that the Ministerial Sub-Committee should include the Secretaries
of State of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the India Office,
the War Office, the Air Ministry and the Admiralty, and that
the Official Sub-Committee should include representatives from the
same Departments and have a chairman nominated by the Colonial
Office. When the Official Sub-Committee could not reach a decision,
the Ministerial Sub-Committee should be convened; the latter should
also meet if a Minister were unable to approve a recommendation
of the Official Sub-Committee.
Since the most important new development at this time, in terms
of strategic interests, was the development of the air-route to India
via the Gulf, the Warren Fisher Committee strongly recommended
that the authorities be given the greatest possible latitude concerning
the establishment and maintenance of the route. It was stated
that the Air Ministry should be brought into policy-making decisions,
and that the Air Officer Commanding in Iraq and the Political
Resident in Bushire should co-operate closely. Furthermore, the
Committee recommended that, in view of the worsening of Britain s
relations with Iran, the Political Resident should move from Bushire
to the Arab side of the Gulf, which henceforth would necessarily
be the centre of British influence in the area.2'* The actual position
of the Political Resident was recognised as being of great importance,
and it was recommended that the post should carry greater prestige
and better remuneration, and that the British Government should
have a say in the appointment.25