At the 1919 general election the Liberal Party fared poorly losing many seats including that of its leader Sir Joseph Ward.

[1] Due to Ward's failure to gain re-election to parliament the acting leader, William MacDonald, took over leadership of the party in January 1920.

[4] He had taken a leading role in the party for several years including being one of the main architects of the updated policy manifesto the Liberals took to the electorate at the 1919 general election.

[5] When Sir Joseph Ward had lost his parliamentary seat he was speculated as a possible replacement leader, but Wilford ruled himself out in favour of MacDonald.

There were internal divisions that emerged with a small band of Liberal MPs who did not accept Wilford as their leader and preferred the party to remain leaderless until Ward could re-enter Parliament.