IOR/L/PS/10/1273

The file contains papers concerning political control in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.

The first half of the file relates to the inter-departmental Sub-Committee of Political Control of the Persian Gulf Sub-Committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The Sub-Committee on Political Control was chaired by Sir Norman Fenwick Warren Fisher, and its terms of reference (as stated in several documents in the file) were ‘To make recommendations as to the methods by which the existing machinery for political control in Arabia can be simplified and speeded up’, which the British Government considered to be necessary as a result of the changed conditions brought about by the extended use of air power in general, and the projected air route along the Arabian littoral of the Gulf in particular.

It includes the following papers of the Sub-Committee on Political Control:

• Minutes of meetings of the Sub-Committee of 8 May, 15 May, and 24 October 1929
• Notes by the Air Ministry entitled ‘Co-operation between the Resident Persian Gulf and the A.O.C. Iraq on all questions relating to: (a) the use of air power in the Gulf regions, and (b) in particular the organisation of the air route’, and ‘The present position as regards the air route and the general methods which it is proposed to adopt to organise it’, dated 11 May 1929
• A copy of a despatch from the Foreign Office to Herbert George Jakins, Jeddah, of 10 April 1929, regarding the channels to be used for communications with Ibn Saud
• A copy of the draft report of the Sub-Committee dated 21 June 1929
• A document dated 4 August 1929 containing copies of comments on the draft report by the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the India Office, the Admiralty, and the Air Ministry
• A copy of the final version of the report of the Sub-Committee, dated 12 December 1929, which is divided into two parts, Part I dealing with propositions lying within the scope of the terms of reference of the Sub-Committee, and Part II concerning the possibility of the transfer to the Foreign Office of the general control of British relations with the whole of the territories in the Middle East (Part II is signed only by the Chairman of the Sub-Committee and representatives of the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Air Ministry).

This part of the file also includes correspondence between Hastings Lionel Ismay, Secretary of the Sub-Committee on Political Control, and John Gilbert Laithwaite, Principal, India Office.

Most of the rest of the file relates to the question of whether the India Office or the Foreign Office should take over the responsibilities in the Persian Gulf hitherto exercised by the Colonial Office.

These papers include:

• A copy of a memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs proposing the transfer of this work to the Foreign Office, dated 10 June 1933
• A copy of a memorandum by the Secretary of State for India in response to the Foreign Office memorandum, stating the reasons why he thought the work in question should be dealt with in future by the India Office rather than the Foreign Office, dated 19 June 1933
• Correspondence between the India Office and the following: the Colonial Office; the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; and the Foreign Office.

The file also includes some correspondence regarding the possibility, raised by the Government of India Foreign and Political Department, that it might be necessary in the future to post as Under Secretary to the Resident in the Persian Gulf an Indian Member of the Political Department, and the objection of the India Office to this, on the basis that in the discussions which led up to the transfer to the India Office of the responsibility for work hitherto undertaken in the Persian Gulf by the Colonial Office, the Secretary of State for India informed the Cabinet, in response to concerns raised by other Departments, that there would be no ‘Indianisation’ of personnel in this area.

In addition, the file includes some papers relating to the question of the unification of political control of the parts of Arabia for which the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the India Office and the Government of India were responsible, and the suggestion that a single Department of Arabian Affairs should be created, under the control of the Colonial Office.

As well as the papers mentioned above, the file also includes India Office Political Department minute papers, and internal correspondence between India Office officials.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.