After the death of Moncef Bey, relations between Lamine Bey and the nationalists improved. The Bey worked clandestinely with Habib Bourguiba and Salah Ben Youssef to raise demands for Tunisian self-government and during the period 1948–1951 was able to put the French authorities under considerable pressure. In 1952 a new Resident General took office, Jean de Hauteclocque, who took a much harder line than his predecessor and imprisoned Bourguiba and other nationalist leaders. The Bey sent an angry telegram to President Vincent Auriol complaining of De Hauteclocque's discourteous and threatening tone. The only result was that within a few hours, every one of his ministers had been arrested and interned. Deprived of the support of his ministers, on 28 March the Bey eventually gave way and signed the decree naming De Hauteclocque's nominee Slaheddine Baccouche as his Grand Vizier. However he refused to sign any decrees issued by the Baccouche cabinet or by the Resident General, bringing government to a standstill and producing deadlock.