Chapter 166 Colonial Assessment Report

What a memorable scene, after Alan Wilson identified with his own eyes that the current Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, could be spies for the Soviet Ministry of the Interior.

“Guy, I actually have a question I want to ask.” Exiting the prime minister’s private room without leaving any traces, Allen Wilson suddenly had a brainstorm, “If it’s a politician who is suspected of treason, do you guys from the Fifth Branch have the right to conduct an investigation?”

“How could you think of such a question!” The corners of Guy Liddell’s mouth twitched, and on first hearing, he knew that this was Alan Wilson, connoting the great Prime Minister as well as the brilliant Foreign Secretary, “Don’t you know that the Prime Minister has immunity? If we take action against a Prime Minister hastily and without thinking, we set a dangerous precedent that any Prime Minister is at fault.”

“Like Churchill and Chamberlain?” Alan Wilson nodded solemnly, “That’s why we need to avoid hasty and unthinking decisions. But then again, how many pro-German spies did you capture during the war.”

“Things on the secret front are naturally secret.” Guy Liddell made a tactical backward motion and asked rhetorically with a reserved face, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course, I give my word as a gentleman.” Alan Wilson couldn’t wait.

Guy Liddell nodded with satisfaction, greeted Alan Wilson over and lowered his voice with a mysterious face, “I can too.”

As it turns out, never trust a department with a uniform, no matter what country the department belongs to.

The performance of the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe became the topic of discussion in the streets of London, the emergence of a choir with a military flavor can be said to be a change brought to the world by the Soviet Union, which influenced the construction of the military in many countries.

Britain naturally in the labor of the army and the United States is almost the same, is to let the stars to the front line tour. Similar to Marilyn Monroe now the army to carry out labor kind of situation.

Not to mention the sensation caused by the Red Flag Cabaret in London, the more sensational the better, Alan Wilson can use this to sell more tickets. Deep down in his heart he believes that labor does not distinguish between noble and lowly, even if it is to be a scalper. If someone pays the bill, don’t stick to the principle of indifference!

And he immediately discovered another benefit, which was that after the list of show businessmen who had cultural exchanges with the Soviet Union was published. He had already been asked by Whitehall civil servants he knew or didn’t know if there were enough people on the list to not weaken the name of the British Empire.

It was even possible to take benefits to add people to the list, and it didn’t need to be seen to know that it must be certain unknown actors with nothing but their faces who wanted to take the back door and utilize the national cultural exchange activities to endorse their own acting careers and gain undue benefits.

For this kind of behavior, Alan Wilson was extremely contemptuous, and indifferently replied, “I say, isn’t it better to at least give me a photo or something, otherwise how do I know that the person who put it in, is not reliable?”

Although in principle, Allen Wilson should not be netted, but the ones who came to the door were colleagues from various departments of Whitehall. In order to maintain the unity of Whitehall, it was not impossible to discuss.

And once they were able to open their mouths, they must have some unclear relationship, which could be kinship or personal.

The more people come to the door, the more they trust Alan Wilson and are willing to take this relationship and share it, and if Alan Wilson is not approachable, it will seem too much to get along with.

Although he will leave for New Delhi by the end of the year at the latest, but it can not never come back, operating some contacts in Whitehall is necessary, and for this reason Allen Wilson prepared a list of young performers as a record of cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Then rushed to the Soviet Union Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe stayed in the hotel, found Foltseva to discuss, very bluntly said, “This matter is most if the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe to add a cultural meeting, so that our side of the road to agree, this is good for everyone.”

“What is the benefit to the Soviet Union, I am not seeing it at all.” Foltseva maintained a proper sitting posture, her legs together, looking very elegant, and at this point, if a cup of black tea was added, it would be a bit of an aristocratic lady’s flavor.

“Miss Ekaterina, even if you don’t consider the relationship between the two countries, you have to consider the personal relationship between the two of us. I was the one who saved your life in the British Occupation Area, don’t underestimate some tiny illnesses, any outcome can happen if you don’t care, you and even your husband should be grateful to me.”

Alan Wilson said with a helpless look on his face, “To put it most directly, you were able to mix into this kind of group visiting abroad, is there no credit for the Potsdam Conference? There’s always a bit of nostalgia in being a human being, isn’t there.”

“Well, Mr. Allen, I am a man with a husband. You’ll be misunderstood for saying that, and likewise you’re in trouble.” Foltseva ignored the less noticeable teasing in Allen Wilson’s eyes, the two were a kind of people, both harboring the heart to demand progress in their own country, and directly agreed, “I’ll personally do you a favor, before the Red Flag Song and Dance Troupe leaves, hold a big cultural exchange, so whether you are satisfied with that or not, as if you were to look at the top of the friendship of the Potsdam Conference. ”

“If the Soviet Union can talk so well, I believe that countries will be much less suspicious of the Soviet Union.” Allen Wilson replied with satisfaction, even if he knew that it was just wishful thinking and that the Cold War was a matter of time.

The communication was successful, Allen Wilson did not stay, but left the hotel immediately, he was not very idle.

According to the internal news of the foreign ministry, the foreign minister Ernest Bevan asked the foreign ministry to prepare a, assessment report on the value of the colony, even Allen Wilson, who was temporarily working in the foreign ministry, had to write one.

Moreover, he was supposed to write it, Allen Wilson still thinks in his heart that he understands the colony better than these civil servants in the mainland.

And Allen Wilson guessed that this is actually assessing the value of the major colonies, to make trade-offs, to see where to keep.

Then of course he can not be an exception, which for the urgent need to progress Allen Wilson, is an opportunity to show real talent, at least he is a senior student of the Oriental College of the University of Oxford, mastered the foreign languages, including Chinese, proper colonial professionals.

British India is the most important colony that the Foreign Office up and down, along with the Foreign Secretary are very well known. It is enough to state the general picture.

If the British Empire is now inevitably facing a contraction, the local resistance in the African colonies is not worth mentioning. It can be put on the last word. There is no longer much interest for Britain over in the Americas.

Now in addition to British India, the remaining colonies are concentrated in two places, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Among them, Southeast Asia looks less problematic because of the good news that has just come in, namely the dust settling on the ownership of the Isthmus of Krakatau.

Allen Wilson’s report, mainly referring to the Middle East, if you open the 1945 map of the Middle East. It would be found that Britain was more present than the United States. Of course this is unsustainable, and the Middle East direction will certainly shrink for Britain as well.

One of the places Britain chose to keep in the Middle East was Jordan, where after World War I Britain recognized Abdullah as the ruler of Transjordan and Abdullah recognized the British mandate.

Transjordan became a semi-independent emirate under the British Mandate. The British had complete control over the politics and economy of Transjordan. The Arab legions in Transjordan were commanded by the British, the royal family’s expenses were financed by the British government, and foreign affairs were in the hands of a British governor.

Another Middle Eastern base of choice for Britain was Oman, with which the British and Omani relations continued even into the twenty-first century, and even the eventual unification of Oman was supported by Britain, with Sultan Taimur, the “Sultanate of Muscat”, eventually unifying the whole of Oman in the sixties with British backing.

As a former world hegemon, Britain still has huge interests in the Middle East, and most importantly, there are British military bases in Kuwait and, of course, in Iraq.

Alan Wilson’s report goes along with the trend of stating that oil resources are extremely important to the British Empire. If there is a change of heart in Iran in the future, it is best to shrink the military force in Kuwait, Oman line.

As long as the British army occupied Kuwait, Iraq will not act rashly in a short period of time, because Kuwait is almost the main card of Iraq’s access to the sea. The report did not mention the United Arab Emirates, because the current UAE does not exist, the local people still believe that it is part of Oman.

In the report, Alan Wilson also expressed concern about Egypt, which is currently the most populous Arab country in terms of population, and the Suez Canal is still within Egyptian territory.

In the event of hostility towards Britain in Egypt, it would definitely not be a good thing for the British Empire, which was currently in the recovery phase.

As a precautionary measure, communication can be made with France to jointly deal with this matter, and the response program is not limited to the military.

“Egypt has a large population, but the land is extremely poor. The entire population of the country is concentrated on both sides of the Nile. In order to curb Egypt’s potential for development, it is necessary to force Egypt to renounce the Anglo-Egyptian condominium treaty for the Sudan in the event of an independent tendency in Egypt.” Inside the Cabinet Secretary’s office, Edward Bridges held a report in one hand and coffee in the other.

In 1820, Muhammad Ali, the governor of Egypt, invaded and conquered northern Sudan. The Sudan had had considerable relations with Egypt in many ways since the reign of the Pharaohs of old, and had been ruled by Egypt many times.

As Muhammad Ali saw Sudan as a valuable new territory. During the reigns of himself and his successors, Egypt and Sudan became a single political entity, and all subsequent dynastic rulers were committed to preserving this union of the Nile Valley. This policy was further reinforced during the reign of Ali’s grandson, Ismail Pasha.

The British later invaded Egypt and signed the Anglo-Egyptian condominium treaty with Egypt, in which Egypt was only a nominal administrator. But as long as the Anglo-Egyptian condominium sultanate treaty remained in place, Egypt was justified since ancient times.

“The well-being of the Nile is doomed for Egypt, as long as the upstream Sudan and friendly Ethiopia are controlled. It would be enough to keep Egypt from doing anything rash at the source of the water.”