Lloyd was in the House of Commons on 24 October, so was not present when the secret Protocol of Sevres was signed. He refused to return to Sevres as he could hardly pretend to be ill again after having just appeared in public. In his instructions to Patrick Dean, who went in his place, Lloyd stressed that Britain had not "asked" Israel to intervene. Later that morning Eden informed the Cabinet about the consultation with Pineau the previous evening. The objective of any Anglo-French action would be to control the Canal and secondly to topple Nasser.