The reason why Palmerston was so adamantly opposed to Mehmed Ali, Marsot believes, was the Pasha's economic policies which Palmerston viewed with suspicion since British goods were barred from Egyptian markets as well as from other areas under the Pasha's rule. In other words, while enumerating other potential reasons for Palmerston's opposition to Mehmed Ali, Marsot argues that it was mostly the fear that "Muhammad Ali could well become a tiresome [commercial] rival" to the British that caused Palmerston's venomous hostility to the Pasha leading to the latter's eventual "undoing."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 41