The road to the 1936 treaty

01The road to the 1936 treaty

• After Tawfiq Nessim Pasha took the premiership, the international situation grew tense because of Italy's invasion of Abyssinia (1935), which warned of a world war.
• The Wafd Party asked for negotiations with Britain over the four reservations, but the British government evaded.
• Its foreign secretary Samuel Hoor stated (November 1935) that Britain preferred to deal with Egypt freely, without restrictions — the country flared into revolution, demonstrations surged and transport was paralysed.
• A national front was formed to work for the restoration of the 1923 constitution and the conclusion of a treaty.
• Britain was forced to give way: it ordered the King to restore the constitution and agreed to negotiate — on the condition that the agreement be made with the representatives of the whole Egyptian people, that is all the parties, so that the treaty would be accepted and not exposed to political bargaining.
• Tawfiq Nessim resigned, and in January 1936 the King entrusted Ali Maher Pasha with the ministry for the purpose of holding free elections.
• A royal decree in February 1936 formed the negotiation delegation (the National Party did not take part), and two decrees in March 1936 held elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, which the Wafd won by a majority.
• Mustafa al-Nahas formed the ministry; in March the first session of negotiations was held, and it ended in August 1936 with the conclusion of the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between Egypt and Britain.