Disraeli / Rothschild purchased Suez canal shares

The reason for Britain being in Egypt, was as usual material self-interest. Having opposed the Suez Canal project to begin with, once it had become a fact of commercial life, the City of London had to make sure it was not held to ransom by the French. The ‘Times History’ states:
“Great Britain had been opposed to the construction of the Suez Canal, which opened a new and shorter route to India to the Mediterranian Powers. Its completion made the fate of Egypt largely dependent on the will of the leading Sea Power - Britain.
“Great Britain had been opposed to the construction of the Suez Canal, which opened a new and shorter route to India to the Mediterranian Powers. Its completion made the fate of Egypt largely dependent on the will of the leading Sea Power - Britain.
In 1857 Lord Beaconsfield [Disraeli] purchased [with the aid of the Rothschilds] 176,602 original founders’ shares from the [financially] embarrassed Khedive. England having thus acquired a definite stake in the country was bound to intervene both in the management of the Canal and in the organization of Egyptian Finance.
The problem of Ottoman-Egypt, like Ottoman-Turkey itself, was one of indebtedness to the European Powers, primarily France and England. The Khedive, like the Sultan, was heavily in debt, and having become financially embarrassed was forced to sell his shares [but not necessarily] to Lord Beaconsfield in 1875.
...Six years later came the Anglo French agreement of happy augury, by which France, in return for concessions in Morocco and elsewhere, recognised England’s special interests in Egypt, while England undertook to make no change in the political status of the country. The other European Powers, except, of course, Turkey, some sooner, some later, recognised the occupation..."
Egypt, it must be remembered, was still part of the Ottoman- Islamic Empire. And the Khedive only ruled by the Firman of 1879. He was not empowered to sell off the family silver or the Suez Canal.
http://www.islamicparty.com/satvoices/carved.htm