Editing Billy Hughes (section)

==World War II==
Defence issues became increasingly dominant in public affairs with the rise of Fascism in Europe and [[Empire of Japan|militant Japan]] in Asia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/in-office.aspx |title=In office – Joseph Lyons – Australia's PMs – Australia's Prime Ministers |publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au |access-date=4 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926155621/http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/lyons/in-office.aspx |archive-date=26 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> From 1938, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons had Hughes head a recruitment drive for the Defence Forces.<ref>[[Anne Henderson (author)|Anne Henderson]]; ''Joseph Lyons: The People's Prime Minister''; NewSouth; 2011.</ref> On 7 April 1939, Lyons died in office. The United Australia Party selected [[Robert Menzies]] as his successor to lead a minority government on the eve of World War Two. Australia entered the Second World War on 3 September 1939 and a special War Cabinet was created after war was declared&nbsp;– initially composed of Prime Minister Menzies and five senior ministers including Hughes. Labor opposition leader John Curtin declined to join and Menzies lost his majority at the 1940 Election. With the Allies suffering a series of defeats and the threat of war growing in the Pacific, the [[Menzies government (1939-1941)]] relied on two independents, [[Arthur Coles]] and [[Alexander Wilson (Australian politician)|Alex Wilson]] for its parliamentary majority.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Unable to convince Curtin to join in a War Cabinet and facing growing pressure within his own party, Menzies resigned as prime minister on 29 August 1941. Although the UAP had been in government for a decade, it was so bereft of leadership that a joint UAP-Country meeting elected Country Party leader [[Arthur Fadden]] to lead the Coalition.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} Hughes remained in the Fadden government, serving as Attorney-General and Minister for the Navy. A month later, Coles and Wilson joined with the Labor opposition to defeat the budget and bring down the government. The independents, under prodding from Governor-General [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie]], then threw their support to Opposition Leader [[John Curtin]], who was sworn in as prime minister on 7 October 1941.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fadden/in-office.aspx|title=In office – Arthur Fadden|publisher=Primeministers.naa.gov.au|access-date=4 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110824011037/http://www.primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fadden/in-office.aspx|archive-date=24 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Going into opposition the UAP opted for a joint Coalition opposition led by Fadden, which led Menzies to resign the leadership. The 79-year-old Hughes [[1941 United Australia Party leadership election|was narrowly elected leader]] on 9 October<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17768049/1105481 NEW GOVERNMENT (Cont.)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703050422/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17768049/1105481 |date=3 July 2018 }}, ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'', 9 October 1941.</ref><ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52468150 Mr. Hughes Replaces Mr. Menzies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703050419/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/52468150 |date=3 July 2018 }}, ''[[Launceston Examiner]]'', 9 October 1941.</ref> but widely regarded as a stop-gap given his age.{{sfn|Fitzhardinge|1979|p=655}}

On 7 December, Japan [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]]. Soon afterwards, Hughes criticised the British government for their weakness in the Far East and declared that they were living on "fast-fading gleams of British triumphs in other wars".<ref name="Jones162">Jones, 'The Foreign Policy of William Morris Hughes of Australia', p. 162.</ref> However, in February 1942 he said that "Britain has temporarily lost control of the seas but she has lost it in an effort to protect Australia. It would be well if those who criticise Britain would turn the searchlights on Australia".<ref name="Jones162" /> In August he criticised the defensive strategy of the Allies in the Pacific but after the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal|Battle of the Solomons]] he praised the United States' armed forces.<ref name="Jones162" /> Hughes opposed the Curtin government's [[Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942]], which incorporated sections 2–6 of the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]] into law. He believed that Britain and the Dominions should instead work together for a common foreign policy.<ref>C. Hartley Grattan, 'Review: William Morris Hughes: A Political Biography. Volume I: That Fiery Particle, 1862–1914. by L. F. Fitzhardinge; Wiliam Morris Hughes: A Political Biography. Volume II: The Little Digger, 1914–1952. by L. F. Fitzhardinge', ''Pacific Affairs'', Vol. 53, No. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp. 381–382.</ref>

Hughes led the UAP into the [[1943 Australian federal election]] largely by refusing to hold any party meetings and by agreeing to let Fadden lead the Opposition as a whole. The Coalition was severely defeated, winning only 19 seats. Hughes himself was nearly defeated in North Sydney on a swing of over 14 percent, seeing his majority dwindle from a comfortably safe 67 percent to a marginal 53 percent.  After the election, Hughes yielded the leadership of the UAP back to Menzies.<ref name=adb/>