The

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

held a

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

on 2 March 1931, in the context of the developing party split. Prime Minister

James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...

was easily re-elected, defeating

Jack Beasley John Albert Beasley (9 November 1895 – 2 September 1949) was an Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1928 to 1946. He served in the Australian War Cabinet from 1941 to 1946, and was a government minist ...

of the

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. Following the expulsion of the N ...

faction. Scullin called a meeting of the Labor caucus following the events of 4 February, which saw

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

and

James Fenton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

resign from cabinet in protest at the government's economic policy. The nominal purpose of the meeting was to elect replacements for Lyons and Fenton, but Scullin called a leadership ballot in order to shore up his own position. Although the caucus nominally had 52 members, Lyons and five of his supporters did not attend the meeting, and Fenton was present but did not vote. Scullin was re-elected comprehensively, winning 40 out of a possible 45 votes. Jack Beasley, acting as a proxy for Jack Lang and his supporters, received the remaining votes.

Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in ...

was re-elected unopposed as deputy leader, and then a vote was held to elect a new ministry, which saw three ministers (including Beasley) lose their places and five others promoted to the ministry for the first time (including future prime minister

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...

).FIVE NEW MINISTERS.
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 4 March 1931.

Results

The following table gives the ballot results:

References

Australian Labor Party leadership spills March 1931 events 1931 elections in Australia Australian Labor Party leadership spill {{Australia-poli-stub

Results

See also

References