1882 - 1960
Egyptian politician.
While Ali Mahir and his younger brother, Ahmad Mahir, were both prominently involved in the politics of Egypt during the turbulent years between the two world wars, their careers took quite different paths. Ali was educated in the law and an early associate of Saʿd Zaghlul and the Wafd (Egyptian independence party) in the years following Egypt's anticolonial uprising in 1919 (Egypt had become a British protectorate). Following the squabble between Zaghlul and Adli Pasha in 1921, Mahir dissociated himself from the Wafd. In 1922, Britain had been forced to declare Egypt a sovereign state but reserved rights to the Suez Canal and to defend Egypt. With a Machiavellian instinct for political intrigue and survival, Mahir managed to occupy a large number of political positions in the ensuing decades, including service on three occasions as prime minister of Egypt.
Mahir was closely associated with the palace, being appointed chief of the royal cabinet in 1935. His services were always at the king's disposal whenever there was a need to express royal displeasure at outside pressure, most especially when the British were involved. Mahir's terms as prime minister were short. He served in the post for a few months in 1936 but was dismissed during the constitutional discussions that followed the death of King Fuʾad and the succession of King Farouk. Equally brief was his premiership from 1939 until June 1940, when his palace affiliations and King Farouk's preference for the Axis powers (Germany and its allies) led to British demands that Mahir be dismissed.
Following World War II, Ali Mahir continued to play his role as one of the éminences grises of Egyptian political life. It was hardly surprising that, following the uprisings in Cairo in January 1952, Mahir was one of several politicians asked to serve as prime minister in the period leading up to the July Revolution. It was Mahir who conveyed to King Farouk the command of the Revolutionary Council (chaired by General Muhammad Naguib) that the king abdicate. Following Farouk's abdication and departure for Italy in June 1953, Mahir continued to play a role as chairman of a constitutional commission. Its work was never completed, being overtaken by the rapid developments of the ensuing months - the abolition of the monarchy and the proclamation of a republic under General Naguib, who turned it over to Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Bibliography
Deeb, Marius. Party Politics in Egypt: The Wafd and Its Rivals,1919 - 1939. London: Ithaca Press for the Middle East Centre, St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1979.
— ROGER ALLEN
