Sir Percy Claude Spender KCVO KBE QC (5 October 1897 – 3 May 1985) was an Australian politician, diplomat, and judge.

He was the fifth of six children born to Mary (née Murray) and Frank Henry Spender; his father was a locksmith originally from South Australia.

He ran as an "independent UAP" candidate, unexpectedly defeating the sitting member, Sir Archdale Parkhill.

On 20 October 1938, Spender announced that he would join the UAP, but that he would "continue to stand for independent expression of thought and action and against the principle of preselection of candidates".

Spender was promoted to cabinet as a minister without portfolio, but effectively ran the Department of the Treasury in Menzies' stead.

Spender was concerned that permanent officials at Treasury, including departmental secretary Stuart McFarlane, were not taking the situation seriously enough.

[5] He promoted interventionist Keynesian policies, such as borrowing money and raising taxes to spend on defence-related projects and thereby reduce unemployment.

[6] Anticipating Japan's entry into the war, he pressed for Australian troops to be moved from the Middle Eastern theatre closer to home.

The party reportedly voted 21 to 5 in favour of an expulsion motion moved by Robert Menzies – who had been largely responsible for the creation of the council as a nonpartisan body.

He led Australian delegations to the British Commonwealth Conference in Colombo, Ceylon and to the Fifth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (of which he was the vice-president).

[13] In this sense Spender was more akin to the realist tradition of Australian foreign politics linked to former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies.

[1] Spender married Jean Maud Henderson on 6 April 1925 at St Mary Magdalene Church of England, Coraki, New South Wales.

One son, John Spender, was also a politician and diplomat who married Australian fashion designed Carla Zampatti.

Jean Spender died in 1970 and on 4 October 1975 at St Mark's Church of England, Darling Point, he married Averil Watkins Trenerry, née McLeod.