respectable individual, but he was given little chance of defeating Citizens Committee candidate Ernest Davis (Lee's former employer). As Young had also been employed by Davis for many years, Lee and several other Labour MPs asserted that Young had been bribed by Davis to make certain the selection of a weak Labour mayoral candidate for the mayoralty.Lee agitated against Sayegh's campaign and tried to discredit him, labeling him as a "dumb wop fellow who could not even speak English". Despite Lee's interference, Sayegh polled better than anticipated in the election, losing to Davis by only 363 votes and topping the poll in the council vote where Labour secured a majority. Rebel When Labour won the 1935 election with a large majority, and formed its first government, many expected Lee to enter Cabinet. However, Lee did not have the support of Michael Joseph Savage, the new Prime Minister. Savage appears to have considered Lee too radical and uncontrolled, while Lee considered Savage too cautious. The two had clashed on a number of policy issues, and in the end, Lee was not awarded ministerial rank — instead, he became an under-secretary. This position did not, however, have any legal authority until the following year, when Lee threatened to resign. Given responsibility for housing, Lee quickly moved to implement a "socialist" plan for state housing, with the construction of many new dwellings for the poor. While Lee was highly enthusiastic about his housing program, he became increasingly unhappy with the new government's economic policies, which he saw as overly cautious. Lee gradually emerged as the leader of Labour's left-wing faction, opposed primarily by the more orthodox Minister of Finance, Walter Nash. Lee and his allies, as well as being strongly socialist, were influenced by social credit theory, and believed that the government should take immediate control of the country's financial system. Nash opposed this, and was able to block proposals put forward by Lee to nationalise the Bank of New Zealand. Gradually, Lee's criticism of the Labour Party's leadership became increasingly public. As well as arguing for a more socialist policy platform, Lee also criticised the Labour Party's internal structure. In particular, he sought to abolish the tradition of having the Prime Minister appoint Cabinet — instead, he wished Cabinet to be elected by caucus. This was rejected by Savage, and Lee began to portray himself not merely as a campaigner for socialism