Coles was one of the two independents (the other was Alexander Wilson) who held the balance of power through the early years of the Second World War, and crossed the floor in 1941 to remove the hapless UAP-Country Party government of Arthur Fadden and install John Curtin of the Australian Labor Party as Prime Minister of Australia.
When Archie Cameron resigned suddenly as Country Party leader in 1940, there was a deadlock between Earle Page and John McEwen in the ballot to select a new leader, and Fadden was chosen as a compromise candidate.
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