602. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State1
2871. Eyes only to Acting Secretary from Ambassador for Secretary and President. Macmillan called me this morning to say that, while the position of Cabinet remains precarious, it has been decided that the British will remove one battalion from Egypt immediately and will continue withdrawal to completion as UN forces move in. Lloyd will make a statement to this effect in the UN tomorrow, adding that in taking this step British are assuming that the UN will (a) undertake and carry out the immediate clearance of the Canal and will proceed with the establishment through negotiation of arrangements for its free and dependable operation as an international waterway and (b) will endeavor bring about Arab-Israeli settlement. Macmillan said this decision was arrived at only after most serious deliberation and will inevitably arouse major opposition within the Conservative Party. Macmillan continued that it was even possible that the result of the decision might be that the government would lose its Conservative majority for this policy. In reply to my comment that after all he did not need a majority of the Conservative [Page 1175] Party to carry this policy through the House he replied that this would bring about the fall of the government. I then said that regardless of anything of that sort it was essential that the troops be withdrawn immediately, to which statement Macmillan assented. In the circumstances Macmillan urged that it would be extremely helpful and might even be controlling on the ability of the government to carry through with this policy for the US representative in the UN to give immediate approval of the reasonableness of the British position as stated by Lloyd. If Lodge does this it would head off possible extreme demands from other UN groups for immediate unconditional withdrawal which would be entirely unacceptable in Britain and complicate the British Government’s position to the extent of dangerously jeopardizing their ability to maintain the policy of prompt and complete withdrawal. It would further be highly desirable that this US endorsement of this specific UK step be followed quickly by a more general statement by the President to the effect that the US is not prepared to abandon the Middle East to Communism and, through the United Nations, will continue to press for the solution of the Canal problem through some form of international operation of the Canal. Macmillan stressed the importance of statements by both Lodge and President. Manifestly he would wish the President’s support to be in the strongest terms feasible but my impression is that the fact of the President’s endorsement is more controlling than the substance.
Macmillan indicated British Cabinet changes which he has previously forecast will take place within the next few days.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 684A.86/11–2256. Top Secret; Niact; Presidential Handling. Received at 11:51 a.m. a copy is in Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series.↩