'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎35r] (69/136)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s GovemmentJ
Printed for the Cabinet. June 19*20
SECRET.
mmmm, \ o wq
MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.
Mr. CHURCHILL’S paper on the future administration of Mesopotamia,
C P 1320, has raised the question of the administrative control of our interests in
the Middle East, and the Secretary of State for India and the Secretary of ^te for
Foreign Affairs have both contributed memoranda on the subject (C.P. an
C P 1434). i a
There is a large measure of agreement in the matter. Like Lord Curzon and
Mr. Montagu, I have long been convinced that we need a new Department to dnee
our policy in all the Arab countries formerly under Turkish dominion—Egypt Syria
Mesopotamia, Arabia-and in Persia. These countries cannot be successfully dealt
with in water-tight compartments. Not only geographical continuity but a
similarity of character—ethnic ties, religious ties, historical ties, a common type, no
doubt with many variations, of social and political conditions constitute a close
connection between them and cause the course of events m one member ot the £ 10l 'P
to react powerfully upon the others. This has always been the case to a certain
extent That it is more than ever the case to-day has been impressed on me by mv
recent experiences in Egypt. Unity of conception in our dealings with the Arab
and Moslem countries of the Middle East, in which our interests and responsibilities
have been so greatly increased by recent events, is indispensable to success, ims is
equally necessary, whatever the degree of authority or influence we may thin i
possible or wise to exercise over any of them. In any case a single Department and a
single Service seem essential for the successful control and conduct of our relations
witli them all. The Department here in London need not, in my opinion, be a large
one. But it must consist of experts. For the Service, as I conceive it, the nuc eus
already exists in the Sudan-Egypt Service and the specialised branch of the
diplomatic service which supplies our consular officers in the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. . These might
with advantage be amalgamated and enlarged so as to constitute a pool fiom
the administrative and diplomatic officers required in any of the countries leferred
to could be drawn. Transfers have already been made in exceptional cases from the
Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Service to Egypt and from Egypt to Mesopotamia U , 1 t , h ' ' e A’ ve to
transfers useful as they are, have been rendered difficult by the fact that we have to
deal with a number of separate little services, with different rates ot pay, pension
arrangements &c A general Middle Eastern Service, with a special course ot
training for its members, would not only facilitate transfers, but offer far greater
attractions to men of ability and ambition than a number of small disconnected
services, variously recruited, ever will. k u T u,™
These are, as it seems to me, the essential requisites, and about them, as 1 have
said there is a great measure of agreement. But a difference of opinion exists as o
the place to be assigned to the new Department, when created, among our existing
offices of State. Bv far the best plan would be to set up a new Ministry. But,
assuming that this is, at the present time, impracticable, into which of the existing
Ministries is the new Department to be dove-tailed ? Is it to be part of the India
Office, or the Foreign Office, or the Colonial Office \ 1 here are objections to aH of
them. But, in my opinion, it does not greatly matter to which of the existing offices
the new Department is attached, provided it remains an absolutely distinct and self-
contained entity, with its own Under-Secretary. Its staff clearly cannot be amalga
mated with that of any existing office, though it may, of course, be placed, as a
separate Department, under one of the three Secretaries of fetate. In that case, it
seems to me that the choice lies between the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary ot
State for India, for the Colonial Secretary is already sufficiently distracted by having
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