To the British government, the change in Washington was a boon. Even before the new Administration had assumed office, MI6 agent Christopher Montague Woodhouse-who had headed the intelligence section of the British Embassy in Tehran earlier-was sent to Washington for discreet talks on the situation in Iran with officials of the State Department, the CIA, and also people who were expected to be appointed to important positions in the new administration.
In his discussions, Woodhouse forcefully argued that the point at issue went beyond oil and nationalization, and had to be seen from the broader perspective of Cold War complexities. The Marxist Tudeh party was a potent factor, and unless the situation was handled firmly, there was a real possibility of falling into the Soviet orbit. The obvious solution was a change. The message was very successfully conveyed. Woodhouse, a product of Winchester and Oxford, would, a few years on, be elected to the House of Commons, and subsequently succeed to a hereditary barony.
