Technically Friendly Enemy

"We welcome in him an enemy in the clothing of a friend," said a Cairo newspaper. Since Egyptian energies are currently devoted not to welcoming Britons but to booting them off Egyptian soil, the welcome visitor was an exception, but an understandable one. His name: Aneurin Bevan.

With his bustling wife, Jennie Lee (who is a Bevanite M.P.), Nye Bevan dropped into Cairo by Comet jetliner last week for a quick look at the archeological and political sights of Egypt. Technically, it was just a stopover--the Bevans were on their way to Egypt's old enemy, Israel, on a junket. In Cairo, the Bevans stayed with their old friend, Indian Ambassador Sardar Panikkar, the diplomat who did so much to persuade India's Nehru not to be beastly to the Communist government in Peking. Currently Panikkar is working with might & main to persuade Egypt to abandon the West and take up neutralism. So everybody concerned was quick to appreciate the official mischief that could result when such practiced twisters of the British lion's tail as Bevan, Panikkar and the Egyptians got together.

Very Charming. At the airport, an Egyptian official greeted Jennie Lee with a bouquet of pink roses. Later, for 40 minutes, the couple chatted at the bedside of President Naguib who, in pajamas and dressing gown, was recovering from flu. "A great man," said Bevan later. "Very charming," added Jennie, "very charming." For another hour they had an audience with Lieut. Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, Vice Premier and strongman of the military regime, who recited Egypt's argument on the Suez issue. "I merely listened," reported Bevan.

To Egyptian and foreign newsmen, who followed him like a pack of basset hounds, Bevan finally gave a press conference. How about Egypt's threat of neutralism and the cold war? Bevan was all for neutralism because it would mean "an increase in the number of footloose nations." Does he consider the U.S. an imperialist nation? "When big powers use coercion and intimidation upon other nations, like the U.S. is doing in France," said he, "she is pretty near to becoming imperialistic."

Revolution to Come. "Is Churchill imperialistic?" a reporter asked. Said Nye: "Churchill has nothing at all left but the desire to hang on." What about Russia? "They have failed to produce a happy society," said Nye. "What did they achieve? They have become as much gadget monkeys as the Americans." And what did he think of Egypt's revolution? "There's no revolution," said he firmly. "What happened was a coup d'etat with a revolutionary fac,ade. The revolution has still to come."

On the question that interested Egyptians most, the evacuation of 80,000 British troops from Suez, Nye treaded so skillfully that London newspapers mistakenly thought he had spoken like an English nationalist. So far as he is concerned, "Egypt has a right to resist conditions she does not like," and Bevan the Briton supports her conditions.

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