After serving in France during World War I, Glover returned to Wellington and established himself as a respected and popular illustrator and cartoonist for The Free Lance and Truth newspapers, his work often dealing with political themes.

[2][3] In Wellington Glover found a job as an elevator boy in the King's Chambers building, built in 1902 and located on the corner of Willis and Willeston streets.

[5][6] As a result of his informal exhibitions in the King's Chambers building, Glover's artistic talent came to the attention of the senior staff of the New Zealand Truth weekly newspaper and in 1911 he was employed as a cartoonist, regular court-reporter and occasional leader writer.

[2] In December 1918 Glover succeeded Brodie Mack as the political cartoonist for The Free Lance weekly newspaper, published in Wellington, using the pseudonym 'Ellis' or 'T.

[12] In New Zealand Glover's skills as a cartoonist and illustrator were in such demand "that he had to resort to a multitude of aliases", using variations of his name including 'Revolg' (his surname backwards).

[9] In April 1920 Glover's wife Dulcie died at a private hospital in Wellington "after seven weeks of severe suffering following the birth of her second child".

Soon after the wedding the couple left New Zealand for Australia, where Glover took up the position of Melbourne cartoonist for the Sydney-based Bulletin magazine.

[16] When the cartoon was published the position of Prime Minister was yet to be determined after Hughes' Nationalist party failed to gain a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.

[18] Throughout the negotiations between the Nationalist and Country parties, Glover's weekly cartoons in the Bulletin provided a running commentary on the unfolding situation.

[19] The political demise of Billy Hughes and the ascendancy of Stanley Bruce was represented as a tragedy for Australian cartoonists, as depicted in Glover's cartoon in The Bulletin of 8 February 1923.

The Bulletin artist solved the problem by representing him as "a blase, supercilious, spatted figure [who] strutted with a grand air of dignified aloofness across the boards that [Hughes] had vacated".

[24][25] In the Bulletin of 5 May 1927, on the occasion of the opening of Parliament House in Canberra, a cartoon by Tom Glover spanning two pages featured caricatures of leading politicians and parliamentary officials.

[37] One account stated that the former Prime Minister Billy Hughes was amongst the mourners, "a sad little figure who felt Tom's passing keenly".