The secret Sykes–Picot Agreement had been revealed in the British press in late November of the previous year and in response to a query by Hussein, the British had sent the Bassett Letter of 8 February. It did not call for Arab sovereignty, but the French and British agreement did call for "suzerainty of an Arab chief" in its A and B areas and "an international administration, the form of which is to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other allies, and the representatives of the Shereef of Mecca" in its brown area (a reduced Palestine).[9]