26 DECEMBER 1958, Page 5

WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED if we had continued until all

the Canal had been occupied? Even if the Russians had not joined in with 'volunteers' or rockets, and even if the country had not gone • bankrupt, we should still have been in a hopeless position. A large part of the Egyptian Army would have gone underground and we should have been faced with something far worse than EOKA. President Nasser would have gone to Damascus or even Moscow and would have had an illuminating tale to tell the rest of the Arab world. Kirkuk oilfield would have gone up in smoke as well as the pipelines. There would have been trouble in Kuwait, and we should have been in difficulties almost everywhere else.

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