While India and Egypt were working on the secret deal, halfway across the world the western power were busy finding something.
Something that can change the whole narrative of this battle.
The British Foreign Office was knee-deep in reports on Gamal Abdel Nasser, their attention zeroed in on his slim, unassuming book, "The Philosophy of the Revolution."
To Nasser, this book was a manifesto, a vision for an Arab world free from colonial dominance.
But here, in London's dimly lit, wood-paneled rooms, it was ammunition.
A junior analyst skimmed through Nasser's passages, his brow furrowing as he hit on one particularly bold line. "Here," he muttered to his superior, sliding the book over.
"Look at this, he's practically proclaiming himself the leader of all Arabs."
The man beside him, a seasoned diplomat who'd spent years working in Cairo, snorted. "He's not content with just Egypt. He's staking a claim over the entire Middle East."
