Insurgent Revival

When King Farouk of Egypt called for cancellation of the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of alliance he probably intended only to please his subjects, who were then engaged in their national pastime of baying at Britain. But Farouk's outburst had consequences he had not foreseen. Last week in London, 32-year-old Labor M.P. Woodrow Wyatt decided that Egypt probably was not a very reliable ally anyway and demanded that Britain's Labor Government stop selling arms to the Egyptians, beginning with a shipment of 16 new Centurion tanks just about to be delivered.

State Dinner. At first, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin brushed off Wyatt's demand with the stubborn statement: "We entered into a contract for the tanks and the Egyptians paid for them. I do not like breaking contracts too easily." By clever parliamentary maneuvering, Wyatt and a few other discontented Labor M.P.s arranged that the arms-for-Egypt issue should be debated at a night meeting of the House which Bevin could not attend. (Together with Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill, Bevin was off to a state dinner at Buckingham Palace in honor of Queen Juliana of The Netherlands.) Before the debate began, Wyatt and several supporters headed for the office of Under Secretary of State Ernest Davies, who was scheduled to represent Bevin at the meeting. The rebel Laborites warned Davies that "the Foreign Secretary should not strain the loyalty of his supporters too far."

Worried Ernest Davies promptly hurried to the office of Socialist Boss Herbert Morrison for advice. On one of his many telephones Morrison got through to Bevin and warned him that the rebels meant to be tough. Truculent at first, Bevin finally agreed that Davies might make any concessions that good judgment dictated.

That night, while Bevin dined in the Palace, the harried Davies faced the combined attack of Labor Party rebels and the Tory opposition. Under heavy pressure, Davies finally announced: "No tank will be shipped to Egypt before [Mr. Bevin] has come to the House and reported . . ."

General Assault. Heartened by the temporary defeat of one Bevin policy, insurgent Labor backbenchers proceeded to a general assault. Within the next three days a total of more than 80 Labor members had introduced three motions calling for a fundamental change in British foreign policy. One of the motions urged that the advance of U.N. forces in Korea be halted. Two of them proposed fresh "peace" talks between Britain, France, the U.S. and Russia.

The arms-to-Egypt incident had somehow revived that group of Labor M.P.s which all along has more or less secretly opposed Bevin's firm anti-Soviet policy. A few of these M.P.s are Communist fellow travelers, more of them are anti-American, or isolationist, or inspired by fear that the U.S. alliance will sooner or later drag Britain into a hot war with China and Russia. Said one Labor rebel last week: "I've been Bevin's admirer for years. But now it's different. A bull was never meant to walk a tightrope."

On issues more' fundamental than Farouk's tanks, the tightrope existed only in the minds of the Laborite rebels. The Tories would scarcely join with Labor's left wing in an effort to force Bevin into compromises with Communism.

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