PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎133v] (273/342)

B
Maher Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , a former member of Sidky’s Government, called at the ^^cy
to sav that he was being pressed to accept the position of Chef du Cabinet
Royal” which had been vacant since Nessim's resignation, and the dunes of
which had been usurped by Ibrashi. Incidentally this proposal could hardly have
been made without King" Fuad’s sanction, and the visit served to confirm the
impression that, whatever the natural reluctance of His Majesty s Ministers to
force decisions upon His Majesty, King iuad was m fact au courant of all that
was going on. Aly Maher was advised by Mr. Peterson not to accept office m
the Palace so long as Ibrashi remained there, and to this advice, although
expressly personal in character, Aly Maher, to his credit, adhered. The subse
quent appointment of Ziwer Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. to the vacant post was enected without the
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. being consulted in any way.
30. The Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. moved back from Alexandria to Cairo on the
1 PtP Optnhpr
31. The inclination of the Foreign Office in this conjuncture of affairs was
to move cautiously and to afford Abdel Fattah Yehia every chance to implement
his undertaking to take up the question of the reform of the Administration with
King Fuad as soon as His Majesty was sufficiently recovered. That this point
had not, in Abdel Fattah Yehia’s opinion, as yet been reached was made clear by
the Prime Minister to Mr. Peterson in a further conversation on the 20th October.
In the course of this conversation, the Prime Minister advanced the rather
disquieting suggestion that the proposals might, if His Majesty’s Government so
desired, be taken as addressed to the Egyptian Government.
32. The sinister import of this suggestion lay in its coincidence with the
more violent phases of a political controversy in the Egyptian press, in which the
policy and aims of His Majesty’s Government were freely and generally
inaccurately discussed. It was already noteworthy that our alleged dislike of
Ibrashi’s influence was nowhere resented; but all kinds of absurd intentions
which were attributed to us in the matter of the Regency, such as the immediate
appointment of Prince Mohammed Ali as sole Regent, were provocative of a
violent difference of opinion, in which the Government-subsidised organs professed
to see British intervention in internal affairs. There was little room for doubt
that the Prime Minister was at this stage yielding to the temptation to effect the
rehabilitation of his Ministry, not by accepting our advice, but by seeking what
credit he could secure for rejecting it.
33. His Majesty’s Government at this time declined to approve the Acting
High Commissioner’s suggestion that he should seek an audience of King Fuad
with a view to pressing for a change of Ministry. But the momentum already
acquired, which in Cairo at one time seemed in danger of being lost, was
considerable, and the Government’s own mistakes hastened the process of
dissolution. A libel case, brought at the instance of Ibrahim Fahmy Kerim
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Aly Menzalawi Bey in February against the Siassa newspaper, had
enabled the Pr ime Minister to dismiss any criticism of these two Ministers as a
matter sub judice. His sudden decision to advance the hearing of the case, and
its inscription before a court notoriously subservient to Ibrashi’s influence,
aroused a storm of protest and led to the two Ministers offering him their
resignation. At about the same time, an ill-inspired protest by the Egyptian
Charge d Affaires m London against the tone of London press-comment on the
situation afforded occasion for a salutary rebuff, which further weakened the
Ministry s position.
rvmn a fn-p i been appointed “Chef du Cabinet Reyal ” on the
27th October, and the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. lost no time m getting into touch with the new
at the pi 7 Ylded - The Kin g w as still in Alexandria; but
at tne beginning of November Ziwer came to Cairo and besom a series nf
conversations with the Acting High Commissioner, which Resulted in the
expression of advice by His Majesty’s Government that IbrashCs improper
p”™ ofTprL Mlnrste^f 7 ZlWet - 8 ° Wn guarantee, bi^yThe
Government res?med M on the S £n J en0U | h t0 re j 18t l 1 ’ Abdel Fattah Yehia ’s
government resigned on the 6th November, and, after a further neriod of
tors^cepZceLf o a ^ Pt The 116 Tewfik Nessim P^a'attachel
acceptance of office. These involved the disappearance of the 1930 regime.