Zaghlul, Saad (1857–1927)

Egyptian nationalist and politician, prime minister in 1924. Leader of the Wafd party, he came to be regarded as the ‘father’ of an independent Egyptian nation-state. His intransigent, uncompromising attitude to, and open criticism of, the negotiations with the British, costing him deportation to Malta in 1919 and Seychelles in 1921, made him the symbol and hero of the Egyptian nationalist cause to end the protectorate. He became prime minister of the first elected government in January 1924 and resigned 11 months later in protest against the British ultimatum to his government.