Mad Mitch's Tribal Law by Aaron Edwards

Author:Aaron Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780577487
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing

13.

IMPERIAL HUBRIS

AS HE ROSE to address the House of Commons on 21 June 1967, George Thomson drew a deep breath. He puffed out his cheeks and spread out his arms, as if he was a tenor about to embark on an Italian operatic aria. Setting his dog-eared speaking notes firmly on the dispatch box, Thomson began by reading out a prepared statement: ‘I need hardly tell the House that yesterday was a day of black tragedy in South Arabia with a sad waste of British and Arab lives.’ The past 24 hours had demanded all of his strength of character and acumen as a politician. Although not yet clear what exactly had happened in Aden, Middle East Command was reporting 12 troops missing in action and an unconfirmed number of casualties.

Thomson’s remarks to Parliament came only a day after his boss at the Foreign Office, George Brown, led the House in universal condemnation of the campaign of intimidation and violence wrought on Britain’s armed forces in Aden. Brown, however, made the tactless comment that the Adenis would be better off without the defence guarantees given under the terms of the 1959 Treaty.318 He claimed that because the Federation was now transitioning towards independence, ‘Arab nationalists could look after the lives of other Arab nationalists’. It was rhetoric designed to curry favour with Labour’s backbenchers, many of whom were fervent anti-colonialists. For those who knew the sacrifices made by generations of British politicians, administrators and soldiers, not to forget those Arabs loyal to them, Brown failed to appreciate the tribal rivalries and power vacuum created by British prevarication on the future of South Arabia.

The one question that bedevilled British policy at this time was how could law and order be maintained while withdrawing in an orderly fashion, especially in the face of an upsurge in violence from insurgents and the loss of faith amongst key allies? Try as they might, Labour politicians could not disguise the fact that they were washing their hands of Aden. Nor could they hide their decision to hold out an olive branch to the same people who had dedicated their lives to killing and maiming British soldiers. Brown had done little to mask Labour’s position in a speech to Parliament on the eve of ‘Black Tuesday’:

I want to make it clear, however, that we shall welcome any readiness to talk shown by the extremist leaders – if, in the case of F.L.O.S.Y., the Egyptians who now dominate it will allow them to talk. I know that the Federal Government will also welcome the opportunity.319

On this occasion, Brown refrained from divulging any details of his attempts to talk to these extremist groups.320 Brown was also making great play of his blossoming friendship with Nasser. ‘I’m friends with Nasser,’321 he reportedly boasted in the company of Federal Minister Muhammad Farid. Brown’s decision to withdraw troops, sooner rather than later, had already been agreed in Whitehall. But Brown himself had been sidelined when Wilson handed the Aden portfolio to Thomson.

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