Political relations between countries of Arabia and UK

This file contains correspondence relating to:

• Article carried by Reuters [enclosed] stating that the Foreign Office is rethinking its Middle East policy, and claiming that officials think that the existing agreements between the UK and local rulers in the Gulf are out of date (16)
• Extract from BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, containing a summary of a Middle East News Association report, in which the Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Saqr Bin Sultan Al Qasimi stated that no Union of Arab Emirates could be realised unless it emanated from the Arab people, and that any efforts to link such a union with the British Commonwealth would be resisted. The Ruler also commented that oil was likely to be discovered in Sharjah, and that the concession agreement with the British company would be amended. It also contains a summary of an Arab News Agency report stating that at a meeting of Arab lawyers in Baghdad, the treaties between Britain and the Emirates, Sheikhdoms and Protectorates of the Gulf and southern Arabian Peninsula were null and void (17)
• Question of how far it is acceptable to act in defence of the Gulf Rulers’ interests without the express consent or instigation of the Ruler in question (18)
• Note, prepared for the Minister of State, on the situations in Muscat and Oman, Kuwait, Khor Al Odaid [Khawr Al Udayd] and regarding the Bahraini prisoners on St Helena, and the Gulf currency (19)