1941 United Australia Party leadership election

April 2022 Alternate United Australia Party logo.svg presidential Caucus no 1939 United Australia Party leadership election 1939 1943 United Australia Party leadership election 1943 9 October 1941 First Ballot Second Ballot Seat 150x150px Billy Hughes 00008B Uncertain 16? North Sydney (NSW) 150x150px Allan McDonald 00008B Uncertain 15? Corangamite (VIC) 150x150px Percy Spender 00008B Uncertain Eliminated Warringah (NSW) Leader Robert Menzies Billy Hughes The United Australia Party (UAP) held a leadership election on 9 October 1941, following the resignation of Robert Menzies on the same day. Billy Hughes was elected as his replacement. Menzies had become UAP leader (and thus prime minister) in 1939, following the death of Joseph Lyons. The UAP-Country Coalition lost its slender majority at the 1940 election, and depended on the votes of two independents to stay in office. On 29 August 1941, Menzies resigned the prime ministership after Labor turned down his offer to join a national unity government. He was succeeded by Country Party leader Arthur Fadden, who had been elected by a joint meeting of the Coalition parties. However, the Fadden government lasted only 40 days before being defeated after the two independents joined Labor in defeating Fadden's budget. John Curtin's Labor Party formed a new government on 7 October, with the Coalition parties forced into opposition. On 9 October, Menzies called a meeting of the parliamentary UAP. He resigned the party's leadership, but not before calling for a vote to determine whether the UAP should form a joint opposition with the Country Party (with Fadden as opposition leader). After a long debate, a joint opposition was approved by 19 votes to 12, despite Menzies arguing against the proposal. As a result, he did not re-contest the party leadership. There were three candidates – former prime minister and attorney-general Billy Hughes, former army minister Percy Spender, and former external territories minister Allan McDonald. Spender was eliminated on the first ballot, and Hughes narrowly defeated McDonald on the second. The final tally of votes was not released, but some sources reported the margin to be only a single vote.NEW GOVERNMENT (Cont.), The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 October 1941.Mr. Hughes Replaces Mr. Menzies, Launceston Examiner, 9 October 1941. Hughes, who was 79 years old (although claiming to be 77), was viewed as "a stop-gap choice to give time for animosities to cool or a more formidable rival to Menzies to emerge".Fitzhardinge Laurence Laurie Fitzhardinge 1979 William Morris Hughes: A Political Biography / Vol. 2: The Little Digger, 1914–1952 Angus & Robertson 655 0207132453 Results 1941 United Australia Party leadership election uap Billy Hughes ? uap Allan McDonald ? uap Percy Spender ? uap Billy Hughes 16? uap Allan McDonald 15? See also Fadden government 1943 Australian federal election References Category:United Australia Party Category:October 1941 in Australia Category:1941 elections in Australia Category:Australian leadership spills United Australia Party leadership election