Page "Arthur Fadden" Paragraph 3

In August 1941 Robert Menzies resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the senior party in the coalition, the United Australia Party ( UAP ).

Although the non-Labor Coalition had been in power for a decade, the UAP was so bereft of leadership that it was forced to elect former Prime Minister Billy Hughes as its new leader.

However, Hughes was a month shy of 78, and was too frail to be a wartime Prime Minister.

Under the circumstances, Fadden was invited to become Prime Minister, although the Country Party was the smaller of the two non-Labor parties.

He was the only member of the Country Party to serve as Prime Minister in his own right ; the other two Country Party Prime Ministers, Page and McEwen, served as caretakers.