Furthermore, and contrary to the attractive nationalist allegation that Mehmed Ali's efforts were frustrated by Great Britain, this book has attempted to show that his policies in Egypt did in fact benefit Britain: through allowing more and more British goods to find their way to Egyptian markets (albeit through him as sole intermediary), through constantly wooing British officials, and above all through protecting British merchants resident in Egypt and establishing a state of law and order in Egypt that secured British overland communication with India. As was shown above, British hostility to Mehmed Ali was caused by his military expansion that was seen in London and Bombay as threatening British possessions in Asia by giving the Russians a pretext to interfere at their expense in Istanbul.

XREF: Contrasts with the many earlier highlights about Palmerston's hostility and British containment of Mehmed Ali (e.g., loc 41, 254, 1667). The book argues British hostility stemmed specifically from his military expansion, not his domestic rule. Builds on: "British opposition targeted Mehmed Ali's expansion, not his reforms."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1689