LORDS DEBATE ON EGYPT

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24882, 23 May 1946, Page 5

LORDS DEBATE ON EGYPT

POLICY ATTACKED BY FORMER MINISTER

CANAL ZONE DEFENCE (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 21. The British Government’s handling of the Egyptian issue was fumbling, dilatory, purblifid, and inept, said Lord Altrincham (Conservative), opening the House of Lords debate on Egypt. (Lord Altrincham, then Sir Edward Grigg, was Minister Resident in the Middle East from 1944, in the Churchill Gdvernment.) “Less than a year ago we were heroes. Now we are villains,” said Lord Altrincham. He considered that the evacuation of Cairo and Alexandria should have been announced immediately after the end of the Japanese war. The Government had been warned against the danger of not doing so, but did not act until it was too late. “It was not until doubts about British intentions had been fanned to burning flames that the British Government sent out a negotiator,” said Lord Altrincham. The security of the Suez Canal was an impossible responsibility for a single State, he said. Britain had made a vast expenditure in the canal zone. She would be obliged to incur vast expenditure elsewhere, and Egypt would incur such expense in defending the canal as would be fatal to her essential services. The defence of the Suez Canal should be a matter for regional security as contemplated in the United Nations Charter. There must be co-operative security in the Middle East. The Lord Chancellor (Lord Jowitt), replying for the Government, emphasised that Britain regarded Egypt as an equal ally. He declared that it was absolutely untrue that during any stage of the discussions Britain had failed to consult the Dominions. There had been for" many weeks a stream of information going -to the Dominions upon which they cduld, if they had wished, have made observations. Advantage had also been taken of the presence of Dominion statesmen to discuss the matter with them. “You can be satisfied that nothing will be done without full consultation regarding matters which ate vital for Britain, the Empire, and Egypt,” said Lord Jowitt. It was of the first moment to Egypt and Britain that the canal should be adequately defended. Everything Britain could do would be done to ensure that the necessary installations and equipment were there and that the Egyptian Army was trained to use its equipment so that it could play its part at a moment’s notice. “If danger of war comes we will do what we can to render aid to Egypt, who will thus be prepared to defend her own territory from assault,” he said. Lord Jowitt expressed the hope that foreign policy would not be thrown irito the cockpit of party politics; because the issues facing Britain were so grave and complex.