Discussions With Egypt
The Foreign Secretary's announcement of the immediate opening of negotiations with Egypt for a revision of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Alliance is welcome. So is the news that Mr. Bevin will take some personal part in the discussions, though other urgent calls will clearly prevent him from being in Cairo throughout the deliberations. Lord Stansgate's choice as leader of the British delegation in the Foreign Secretary's absence serves to emphasise, whether intentionally or not, the importance of Egypt to British air communications. Quite apart from that, the Minister for Air, supported as he will be by the new Ambassador in Cairo, Sir Ronald Campbell, and by that most experienced of authorities on all Middle Eastern questions, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, should be more than equal to any demands likely to be made on him. It is hard to over-emphasise the importance of a satisfactory agree- ment with Egypt. The country is intimately concerned in every question affecting the Eastern Mediterranean and the passage to India, the Middle East and the Arab League, and genuine friend- ship between Britain and Egypt is an indispensable condition of tranquillity throughout those regions. Egypt is intelligibly sensitive about any provision that may look like a limitation on her full inde- pendence, and the British delegation will do well to recognise the wisdom of giving attention to appearances as well as to realities.
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