Tenth: the People's Ministry of 1924 and its achievements

The first popular ministry

• General elections were held after the constitution, and the Wafd under Saad Zaghloul won a landslide of about 90%.
• Saad Zaghloul formed the first popular constitutional ministry in the history of Egypt in January 1924.

Its achievements

• Freeing the economic life from foreign control.
• Separating the Egyptian currency from the British currency, and selling most government land to small farmers.
• Raising the budget of the Ministry of Education and drafting a law of compulsory education for boys and girls.
• Replacing foreign employees with Egyptians.
• Encouraging the national movement in the Sudan that seeks unity with Egypt and the liberation of the Nile valley.

The crisis of Saad's ministry

• The Saad–MacDonald negotiations — the first negotiations of the constitutional era — failed because Britain insisted on interfering in internal affairs, controlling Egypt's foreign policy and keeping its troops in the Canal zone.
• Sir Lee Stack, commander of the Egyptian army (the Sirdar), was assassinated; Britain delivered a harsh ultimatum: pay half a million pounds, withdraw the Egyptian army from the Sudan, and allow Britain to occupy the customs of Alexandria.
• Saad refused the ultimatum and his ministry resigned; the King tasked Ahmed Ziwar Pasha, who accepted the ultimatum's terms.