Editing Billy Hughes (section)

==Political eclipse and re-emergence==
Hughes played little part in parliament for the remainder of 1923.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=521}} He rented a house in [[Kirribilli, New South Wales]] in his new electorate and was recruited by ''[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]'' to write a series of articles on topics of his choosing. In the articles he defended his legacy as prime minister and stated he would support the new government as long as it followed his principles.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=522}} In 1924, Hughes embarked on a lecture tour of the United States.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|pp=525–529}} His health broke down midway through the tour, while he was in New York. As a result he cancelled the rest of his engagements and drove back across the country in a new [[Flint (automobile)|Flint]] automobile, which he brought back to Australia.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|pp=530–531}} Later in the year he purchased a house in [[Lindfield, New South Wales|Lindfield]], which was to be his primary residence for the rest of his life.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=535}} In 1925 Hughes again had little involvement in parliamentary affairs, but began to portray himself as "champion of Australian industries struggling to get established against foreign competition and government indifference", with the aid of his friends [[James Hume Cook]] and [[Ambrose Pratt]].{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|pp=538–541}}

Hughes was furious at being ousted by his own party and nursed his grievance on the back-benches until 1929, when he led a group of back-bench rebels who [[crossed the floor]] of the Parliament to bring down the Bruce government. Hughes was expelled from the Nationalist Party, and formed his own party, the [[Australian Party]]. After the Nationalists were heavily defeated in the [[1929 Australian federal election|ensuing election]], Hughes initially supported the Labor government of [[James Scullin]]. He had a falling-out with Scullin over financial matters, however. In 1931 he buried the hatchet with his former non-Labor colleagues and joined the Nationalists and several right-wing Labor dissidents under [[Joseph Lyons]] in forming the United Australia Party (UAP), under Lyons' leadership. He voted with the rest of the UAP to bring the Scullin government down.<ref name=adb/>