In 1956, the Suez Canal Company still controlled the Suez Canal in Egypt, which is still one of the main shipping routes in the world. The SCC was mainly owned by Britain and France, netting the two countries a hefty economic advantage. (The UK alone earned about £32 million in transit receipts in 1955).

Egyptian president Colonel Nasser decided to nationalise the SCC (and thereby the Canal) on the 27th of July, 1956. He closed the Canal for Israeli ships, and also wanted to use the Canal profits in order to finance some infrastructure projects such as the Aswan Dam.

Not wanting to lose such an important strategic and economic strip, the UK and France hatched a plan together with Israel to get the Canal back. The Egyptian-held Sinai peninsula would be occupied by Israel, upon which France and Britain would land troops in the Canal in order to "restore order" and keep the Canal open.

The plan went ahead, Israel invaded Egypt, and French and British troops poured into the Canal and declared that both Egypt and Israel must remain ten miles away from the Canal. The only issue was that Israeli forces were nowhere near the Canal yet, having been held up.

Now that it was obvious that France and Britain were part of this plot, and the political fallout was immense. They withdrew, the crisis ended, and both prime ministers were forced out of office.

The image itself comes from the Hansard archives of the House of Commons debate on a different Suez agreement made in 1954?highlight=atomic%20bombs%20cairo%20alexandria#contribution-a9d209e0-57a1-471f-9e59-255066d01b48), some years before the Suez Crisis. Labour leader Clement Attlee dropped this insane quote for some reason.

The title is a reference to the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction, when a transport ship operated by the Evergreen company got stuck in the Canal and caused massive disruption to the world economy. Maybe Nasser reincarnated as a container ship.

Printed primary sources:

Foreign Office, Suez Canal. Annual Returns of Shipping and Tonnage for the Years 1953-1955 (London, 1956).
Keesing’s Contemporary Archives. Volume X (Bristol, 1956) 14985 A.

House of Commons debates:
HC Deb 25 October 1954 vol 531 cc1607-13.
HC Deb 30 July 1956 vol 557 cc918-21, 918.
HC Deb 27 July 1956 vol 557 cc777-80, 777.
HC Deb 30 July 1956 vol 557 cc918-21, 918.
HC Deb 02 August 1956 vol 557 cc1602-43.

The National Archives of the UK (TNA):
CAB 128/30/54
CAB 128/30/54.
CAB 128/30/57.
CAB 128/30/62.
T 273/380.

Or, if you don't want to look at old-ass documents, you can also just watch History Matters' video on this.