When news of the debate reached Kongwa, there was uproar in the camp.

Mutiny on the bundu

Local managers were outraged that Strachey had explicitly claimed their full support for Plummer when they had already put on record, twice in the last 12 months, their lack of confidence in him as Chairman of the OFC. Following rowdy discussions, a collective telegram was despatched to London demanding that Strachey withdraw the statement. If he did not, it was threatened, there would be a mass resignation of all departmental heads. The telegram was signed by four of them: Dr Bunting, the chief scientist, Dr Porter, Dr Welch the Chief Welfare Officer, and Colonel Marchant the Chief Labour Officer.

Morale had always been a bit fragile at Kongwa. The prolonged uncertainty about the future of the scheme in 1949, following the rejection of the Harrison plan, had fuelled concerns among the staff who, closeted together miles from anywhere or anyone, had little to talk to each other about except the scheme itself. Plummer had left a bitter taste in their mouths when he left in June, which Fyfe Robertson and visiting MPs had clearly picked up. Staff were equally aware that an election was in the offing, and the ferociousness of Conservative attacks on the scheme led many to fear that it would be closed down immediately should they win the election. In Urambo and the Southern Province, further from the corporate headquarters and still focussed far more on their pioneering efforts to clear the land, staff were working away happily enough. But the atmosphere at Kongwa was tense. Sheila Unwin reported: ‘We are all very annoyed that Plummer hasn't had the sack and would have welcomed a public enquiry. After all, we have all worked hard and it would show up those who didn't – especially those in high positions who were constantly making mistakes.’

When it arrived in London, the telegram caused acute concern. Misleading Parliament, in those days, was a sackable offence and, in the febrile political atmosphere of an approaching election, withdrawal of the statement would be not just embarrassing to Strachey himself, but hugely damaging to the Labour Party as a whole. Attlee therefore reacted swiftly, summoning Strachey and sending him immediately to East Africa to sort out the problem.