SUEZ CANAL DISPUTE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27410, 24 July 1954, Page 7

SUEZ CANAL DISPUTE

“Revolt” By 40 Conservatives (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 22. Forty of Sir Winston Churchill’s Parliamentary supporters stand ready to “revolt” should the current negotiations between Britain and Egypt over the future of the Suez Canal Zone base produce a settlement involving the total withdrawal of British troops. The “rebels,” headed by Captain Charles Waterhouse, are marking time while the negotiations proceed, but they have taken the decision that if the Government concludes an agreement which flouts their views they will vote against it when the chance is given. Sir Winston Churchill has failed in personal appeals to move the rebels from their standpoint. Mr Julian Amery, one of the group,

writing in the current issue of “Time and Tide,” says that Britain, by withdrawing, would be abandoning the guardianship of the waterway linking the Western and Eastern halves of tne Commonwealth.

She would be also abandoning the greatest military base on earth and surrendering the island bridge from Asia to Africa.

Egypt’s Use of Base He .asked whether Egypt, would use the base for “a second round against Israel or to suppress Egypt’s opponents in the Sudan?” The “retreat from Suez” might do more than undermine Britain’s position in the Middle East. It might cost her her African empire as well, Mr Amery said.