Extracts from a confidential report from Josephine McNeill
to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(Copy)

I received the protocol visit to-day of the recently arrived Minister of Egypt, Brigadier A.N. Amin. Brigadier Amin told me that up to his appointment as Minister to the Netherlands he had been a member of the Revolutionary Council in Egypt. As such he had been in charge of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs. By profession he is, of course, an army officer.

1. In reply to a polite remark of mine that we were watching with sympathy their efforts for independence, he assured me that in the meeting of the Revolutionary Council the name of Ireland frequently came up and its example was often quoted.

   I asked him what was the position at present of General Naguib. He said that he had somewhat faded out of the picture at the present time, that he was a sick man and not in the best condition for making good decisions. He had jumped in far too quickly with his promise of a return to parliamentary conditions for which the people were not yet ready, said Brig. Amin. In this connection Naguib had been got at by members of former parliamentary parties who promised him that those parties would undertake to purge themselves of undesirable elements and come forward on a reputable basis to seek election. Naguib believed them and rushed in with his promise to re-establish parliamentary government. In fact, said Brig. Amin, what these parties did was to remove from their ranks certain weak and unimportant elements who were in any case without influence. Such was the promised ‘purge’. The corruption under the monarchy was so deeply embedded in certain parties, said Brig. Amin, that it could not possibly be purged with speed and in fact they of the Revolutionary Council had already evidence that certain of these parties were again intriguing with the British since Naguib made his rash promise. A transition period therefore was an absolute necessity before the return of government on a parliamentary basis and the present decision of the Revolutionary Council was that it should be postponed for three years.

2. Brigadier Amin confirmed the truth of what I previously reported,¹ namely, that the British attitude concerning Egypt had hardened progressively since Bermuda and that since then America had ceased to intervene in Egyptian matters and had since failed, he said, to keep promises previously given to Egypt of certain economic and military aid and in general had left the field clear to Britain.

[matter omitted]

3. I asked the Minister if they in Egypt really desired a rapprochement with Britain. His answer was that in the world to-day there are only two sides to choose from and they certainly would choose alignment with the Western powers rather than with the Communists. For that reason they did desire a settlement with Britain – but ‘on a basis of freedom’, not with strings attached. The members of the Revolutionary Council were men of patriotic ideals, he said. They did not want an imposed treaty with terms that would imply subjection and tie their hands – though they might be willing to concede those very terms if the British would consent to negotiate them on terms of equality. They are not willing to have a settlement with Britain affected through any legal instrument or Treaty implying the constitutional inferiority of Egypt vis-á-vis Britain.
4. I asked Brig. Amin if they were willing to allow the British to have a base in Egypt. My straight question seemed to take him slightly aback. He smiled as if I had touched a vital spot. He said that in fact they were – but that at present their bargaining position was weak and as they could not in present circumstances hope for a quid pro quo they were not yet ready to concede it. What they had in mind was the position of Turkey which because of its importance in the defence system of the Western powers was immensely petted and given lavish economic and military aid.

   If Egypt is eventually to concede a British base in Egypt – she wants to do so in circumstances more favourable than the present ones, namely when her internal difficulties will have become to some extent straightened out and greater internal stability in sight. In such a case she would hope to make a better bargain with Britain as regards the much needed economic and military aid which are indispensable for the prosperity of the country.

   Brigadier Amin is a young man of about forty to forty-five (I should say he was no more than thirty-five but that he has already a married son). He is a handsome well-set-up man of an excellent officer type and makes a very good impression as being straight-forward and sincere.