Sept 22, 1955: Nasser has made a bargain with the Russians, for 100 MiGs, 100 tanks and other weapons, and a team of Russian technicians. This is a most alarming and perilous success for the Russians, and we must stop it somehow.

Macmillan, who was foreign secretary, flew to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Sept 30: I had a talk with the secretary-general (Mr Hammarskjold). The more you see of him, the more you feel he is suffering from the endemic disease of Scandinavia (esp Sweden) — gutlessness.

Macmillan discussed the Egyptian arms deal with John Foster Dulles, the American secretary of state.

October 2: Dulles took the gravest view. The evidence was piling up — the Egyptian deal was not an isolated event. The Russians were corrupting also Syria, Saudi Arabia and trying Libya. They would soon start on Iraq.

Dulles asked if we had enough troops to reoccupy Egypt. I said: “Not in Suez. They are moving out fast. But it could be done from Cyprus, no doubt.” However, at this stage, this did not seem practical. So it comes to a mild squeeze on Egypt, and benefits to the loyal Arabs — Jordan, Iraq etc. Let unpleasant things begin to happen to Nasser, and pleasant things to the others.

Nov 12: Alan Hare (aristocratic intelligence officer and future chairman of the Financial Times) believes that the Israelis are now seriously considering an attack on Egypt, to destroy the Egyptian army and bring down Nasser.

Eden had been pressing Macmillan to take over from Rab Butler as chancellor of the exchequer. He agreed, provided he was given supremacy over the home front and Butler was not compensated with the title of deputy prime minister.

Dec 22: D (Lady Dorothy, Macmillan’s wife) and I went to look at No 11 Downing St. We were rather appalled at its unsuitability for a residence nowadays. Yet we have nowhere else to go.

July 27, 1956: Nasser has declared his intention to “nationalise” — that is, seize — the Suez Canal Company. The speech is very truculent — an Asiatic Mussolini, full of insult and abuse of US and UK. The unanimous view of the cabinet was in favour of strong action.

July 30: Bob Murphy (American under-secretary of state) arrived yesterday. It is clear that the Americans are going to “restrain” us all they can. The French are absolutely solid with us, and together we did our best to frighten Murphy all we could. We gave him the impression that our military expedition to Egypt was about to sail. (It will take at least six weeks to prepare it, in fact.)

Aug 1: I told Foster (Dulles), as plainly as I could, that we just could not afford to lose this game. It was a question not of honour only but of survival.