Muṣṭafā al-Naḥḥās Pasha

Muṣṭafā al-Naḥḥās Pasha (born June 15, 1879, Samannūd, Egypt—died Aug. 23, 1965, Alexandria) was a statesman who, as the leader of the nationalist Wafd party, was a dominant figure in Egyptian politics until the revolution of 1952.

A lawyer by profession, Naḥḥās was appointed a judge in the National Court at Ṭanṭā in 1914. Soon after World War I he joined the recently formed Wafd; he was exiled with Saʿd Zaghlūl in the early 1920s, and assumed the chairmanship upon Zaghlūl’s death in 1927. Thus, he embarked upon a career during which he was prime minister of Egypt on five occasions. His first term of office as prime minister began in March 1928. His dismissal in June was occasioned by King Fuʾād I’s antipathy to constitutional government and the displeasure of the British high commissioner over his introduction of legislation demanded by the extreme nationalist wing of the Wafd. Returned to power in 1929, Naḥḥās resigned in 1930 after differences with the king over limitation of the sovereign’s power. Appointed prime minister for the third time in May 1936, he headed the Egyptian delegation to London to negotiate the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (August 1936), which officially ended the British occupation of Egypt and established a 20-year military alliance between the two countries. He also led negotiations at Montreux, Switz., to put an end to the capitulations and to the mixed courts.

After Fuʾād’s death in April 1936, the young king Farouk I immediately disagreed with Naḥḥās over limiting the king’s powers and, significantly, over international policies; he dismissed Naḥḥās in December 1937. At the onset of World War II, Naḥḥās was driven to cooperation with the British, a position that brought him to power once again in February 1942. The British ambassador, armed with an ultimatum and backed by a show of military force, confronted Farouk with the choice of either abdicating or appointing Naḥḥās prime minister. Farouk chose the latter; elections in March of that year gave the Wafd an overwhelming victory. Important social changes undertaken by Naḥḥās’s government included initiatives to raise the minimum wage of farmworkers and more-lenient laws regarding labour unions. Naḥḥās also played a central role in the foundation of the Arab League, having called for the conference of Arab leaders that resulted in the Alexandria Protocol, signed on Oct. 7, 1944. After the British had withdrawn their support of Naḥḥās, Farouk again dismissed him in 1944, one day after the signing of the Alexandria Protocol.

Naḥḥās’s final term of office began in January 1950, amid signs of collaboration with the king. Once in office, he unilaterally abrogated the 1936 treaty with Britain and declared Farouk king of Egypt and the Sudan. By this time, popular opposition was growing both to the corruption in and policies of the palace and the Wafd, resulting in agitation and disorder in Cairo, on the basis of which Farouk dismissed Naḥḥās in 1952. The following year Naḥḥās and his wife were arrested, tried on corruption charges, and subsequently placed under house arrest by the Free Officers, a nationalist military group who had since come to power in Egypt.