“EGYPT AS ALLY”

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24870, 9 May 1946, Page 5

“EGYPT AS ALLY”

wish to treat Egypt in every ! an aU Y and an equal whose a^ e identical to ours. We •rot complete confidence. It is our that in the new alliance the of joint responsibility in the rent of war or an emergency for the E Sypt and the canal be upheld. The defence of anpU\- after all, first and foremost Z SS?? 3 ® responsibility, but it is Government’s duty to come of assistance in the exercise re3 P° ns ibility and to have Attlee 8 ena ® lin g it to do so,” said Mr added that under the ennbi Ons modern warfare Britain ifnnt carry out her obligations only forcM P osi . tion by Egypt to bring of there without loss Th e Government was ento work out with the SribS? 5 how best it could get those bcnaSi ai } d in what time it would set withdraw the troops and there the very !ar^e installations raSf P° vernm ent was trying to artho carry out its obligations for cSlri k of the ca nah but this goodwß? A f°Pu e 2P ly wilil the hearty the Egyptian people. Chiefs !rfS Ss £ d the ma tter with the They agreed that “ discuSS) u* ■'? ay of approach. We I*, 1 ' 11 the Dominion repre»hv w. ' and we are perfectly clear Vent on ‘ re doin " this.” Mr Attlee asked Mr Attlee whether Mr At.? lons ad agreed to the plan, replied: ”Yes, the draft Minist”,” 6 tlle Dominions’ Prime Opposition members 1& AttL D v they agree?” this re P, lle d: “I didn’t come to hn>t5 ous ? •' but he was inter- “ Answer ”“ y °PP° sit ion cries of The Government takes Wth -/“Ponsibihty. I discussed this 'av ft.n.. Dominion representatives S. d ' hey agreed that it was MfrwW, 01 approach. I K °p e that the •aytfouhl 111 ?* 1 :. W1!I not leave us in **aulted t ' x l » a fact that they were SSatnJ the decision was MrAfFi.^ the y told afterwards? *ulte ! j eotirse they were conChurehill ex r u the decision. Mr W ) / hak « hl ’ head, but he Jratt ana e decided on this fine of that it was the right ’efore th? r ?? cfl ' Then we brought it ’Semptin? but 1 am not —npung to shelter myself by put-

ting the responsibility on others. I say they were fully consulted. Mr Churchill said that Mr Attlee’s statement had caused him a most painful shock. “It is a very serious thing to begin negotiations of this character with the statement that you are going to give away the main point,” Mr Churchill added. He understood Mr Attlee to say that if the canal was not effectively protected as the result of the negotiations we should revert to the 1936 Treaty. , Mr Attlee interposed that obviously if negotiations broke down the original treaty still stood. Mr Churchill said that this was a very important admission which relieved his anxiety to some extent, but in no wise improved the view which he took of the way the Government intended to handle the matter. The Opposition hitherto had been chary of commenting on the Government’s external affairs, but it now had feached a point where there was a serious division of purpose and method. No military man could say that there was any method of keeping the canal open except by having troops there. It seemed to him that we suffered very much from the curious method of what was called “approach.” Mr Attlee had said that the Chiefs of Staffs agreed to this “approach," but they were not Judges of a diplomatic approach. If they expressed the opinion that it was possible to keep the canal open without troops it would have a positive effect on his mind. “I felt it a most painful blow that Mr Attlee tossed out in five sentences of admirable terseness the news that all our forces were to be withdrawn from Egypt,” Mr Churchill said. Egypt had been effectively defended in two wars by British, Australians, New Zealanders, ltd South Africans, who shed their blood freely to prevent Cairo and Alexandria being looted, ravished and subjugated. The Dominion Prime Ministers were not consulted in a sense of participating in the discussions or sharing a policy, Mr Churchill went on. They were told what was the policy after the British Government had arrived at its own conclusions. “If ever there was a question on which the Ministers of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada shoiild be taken right Into the council it was Egypt,” Mr Churchill said. The Opposition was bound to voice its protest and its misgivings by a vote. He earnestly hoped that people would realise the deadly slope on which we were getting, not , only in Egypt, but I in many countries. '