ABSTRACT
The intelligence report provided a detailed description of the origins, aims and methods of the National Liberation Front (NLF). The Egyptians appear to have primarily used the NLF as a flag of convenience for what were dissident tribesmen of no great political conviction, notably in the Radfan from April 1964. By 1965, British governments of various hues had dealt with Nasser as a major figure in Egyptian and Middle Eastern affairs for the more than a decade. The professionals in the Foreign Office, including the British Ambassador in Yemen, Christopher Gandy and the Ambassador in Cairo, Harold Beeley, consistently warned that failure to recognize would lead to the revival of the Anglo-Egyptian antagonism. On 26 September 1962, the British forced a merger of the crown colony with the Federation through a very reluctant Aden legislature. Nasser had explicitly in his Suez speech on 23 December 1963 called for removal of all remaining British bases in the Middle East including Aden.
