his former political godfather. Second Republic In 1931, with the advent of the Second Republic, he returned to politics. In the elections to the Constituent Courts of that year he ran as a deputy for the Almería circumscription, but was not elected. Despite this failure, he played an important role at the national level during these years. In 1931 the government appointed him president of the Consejo Superior Bancario ("Higher Banking Council") and a year later he was appointed representative of Spain to the League of Nations in Geneva. After a period of approximation, in 1933 he joined Republican Action (AR), the party of Manuel Azaña. Thanks to Barcia's influence, the Diario de Almería became the provincial organ of the Republican Action party. With a view to the November 1933 elections, he forged an alliance between Republican Action and Lerroux's Radical Party in the province of Almería, managing to obtain a seat. Barcia was one of the few deputies that Republican Action obtained, which suffered a general defeat in the elections. Faced with this situation, AR would join with the Galician Republicans and the independent radical-socialists to form a new party, Republican Left (IR), a formation in which Augusto Barcia would also join. Within the Almeria provincial organization of IR he became its main leader. He would defend Lluís Companys and other members of the Generalitat of Catalonia for their participation in the proclamation of the Catalan State in October 1934. In the elections of February 1936 he was part of the Popular Front candidates for Almería, being the most voted candidate -with 68,175 votes- and managing to revalidate his deputy's seat. After the victory obtained by the Popular Front coalition, on February 19 he was appointed Minister of State in the cabinet presided over by Manuel Azaña. Between May 11 and 13 he would assume the post of President of the Council of Ministers, after the resignation of Azaña -who had been elected President of the Republic-. He would be succeeded at the head of the government by Santiago Casares Quiroga, maintaining, however, the post of Minister of State. After the Civil War, in July 1936, he assumed the post of Minister of the Interior in the very brief government headed by Diego Martínez Barrio. He would again hold the portfolio of State in the cabinet presided over by José Giral, leaving in September 1936. He was appointed Spanish