Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.
Nuri Pasha al-Said CH (December 1888 – 15 July 1958) (Arabic: نوري السعيد) was an Iraqi politician during the British mandate in Iraq and the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq. He held various key cabinet positions and served fourteen terms as the prime minister of Iraq.
From his first appointment as prime minister under the British mandate in 1930, Nuri was a major political figure in Iraq under the monarchy. During his many terms in office, he was involved in some of the key policy decisions that shaped the modern Iraqi state. In 1930, during his first term, he signed the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, which, as a step toward greater independence, granted Britain the unlimited right to station its armed forces in and transit military units through Iraq and also gave legitimacy to British control of the country's oil industry.
The treaty nominally reduced British involvement in Iraq's internal affairs but only to the extent that Iraq did not conflict with British economic or military interests. The agreement led the way to nominal independence, as the Mandate ended in 1932. Throughout most of his career, Nuri was a supporter of a continued and extensive British role within Iraq, which was against the popular mood.
Nuri was a controversial figure with many enemies and had to flee Iraq twice after coups. At the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958, he was very unpopular. His policies, regarded as pro-British, were believed to have failed in adapting to the country's changed social circumstances. Poverty and social injustice were widespread, and Nuri had become a symbol of a regime that failed to address the issues, choosing a course of repression instead, to protect the interests of the well off.
On 15 July 1958, the day after the revolution, he attempted to flee the country disguised as a woman but was captured and killed.