but as a campaigner for internal party democracy. This stance won Lee considerable support from those who otherwise disliked his views. Lee's attacks came at a time of considerable difficulty for the Labour Party — Michael Joseph Savage was now seriously ill, and World War II was breaking out. Departure from the Labour Party Lee was censured by the Labour Party conference of 1939, but continued to attack Labour's leaders for what Lee regarded as Labour's failure to implement socialist policies. On 25 March 1940, Lee was finally expelled from the Labour Party. Lee subsequently published a further attack on Savage and his leadership of the Labour Party entitled "Expelled from the Labour Party for telling the truth: psycho-pathology in politics". Savage died two days later, and was succeeded as Prime Minister by Peter Fraser, a member of the faction opposed to Lee's left-wingers. Lee quickly announced the establishment of the new Democratic Labour Party, with himself as leader. He was joined by Bill Barnard, the Speaker and former Mid-Canterbury Labour MP Horace Herring . Others, e.g. John Payne, Labour MP Rex Mason and Independent MP Harry Atmore were sympathetic. However, Lee soon alienated many of his supporters (including Barnard) with what was seen as an "autocratic" leadership style, ironic considering his complaints against Savage. In the 1943 election, the Democratic Labour Party put forward 52 candidates, including Keith Hay, Alfred E. Allen and Colin Scrimgeour (who stood against Peter Fraser in ). The DLP won only 4.3% of the vote, Lee lost his seat to Labour candidate Fred Hackett, and none were elected. Barnard stood as an Independent and also lost. The DLP did not stand any candidates in the , but Lee stood as the sole DLP candidate for in the and got 2,627 votes, coming third. Death and legacy Although his parliamentary career was over, Lee continued to write. He remained strongly hostile to the Labour Party, and denounced its leaders as traitors to the working class. In 1963, he published his political memoirs, entitled Simple on a Soap-box. He continued to comment on political matters for some time, although he surprised many with his defence of the United States in the Vietnam War. He was awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Otago in 1969. Lee died in Auckland in 1982. His wife, Marie (Mollie) Lee, had died in 1976. They had no children, although