 The Wafd Party sprang from the delegation formed by the nationalist Saad Zaghloul in 1918 to demand complete independence from the British, and was officially founded a year later.Serageldin upheld the party's tradition for democracy, bisectarianism and liberalism, but in courting the Muslim Brotherhood was thought to have exceeded a remit to broaden its popular appeal.He would later take credit for ordering police in Ismailia armed with rifles to engage in a futile battle against British troops using light artillery, but this merely precipitated the burning of Cairo a day later on 26 January 1952, and the Government's immediate dismissal.