was forced to sail to England in early 1912 for more advanced surgery and during this long absence his position within the Liberal party was significantly weakened. Minister He was Minister of Justice, Minister of Marine and Minister of Stamps in the World War I National government from 14 November 1917 to 22 August 1919 under William Massey. At a May 1919 caucus meeting to discuss the coalition between the Liberal and Reform parties a majority of members voted in favour of ending the arrangement upon leader Sir Joseph Ward's return from Europe. Wilford worked with his colleagues (particularly William MacDonald and George Warren Russell) to develop an updated policy manifesto for the next election. Following Ward's failure to gain re-election to parliament at the 1919 general election, Wilford nominated MacDonald to assume the leadership of the Liberal Party. Leader of the Opposition Wilford became the Leader of the Liberal Party and therefore Leader of the Opposition upon the death of William MacDonald in 1920. However, he was initially hampered in this position due to many Liberal MPs' wishes to remain leaderless until their defeated leader, Joseph Ward could re-enter Parliament. By 1922 Wilford had achieved a reconciliation with the Liberal's dissidents and contested the as party leader. There was talk of a proposed alliance of sorts between the Liberal and Labour parties in order to avoid vote splitting, similar to the Lib-Lab Pact in the UK. Wilford entered into discussions with Labour leader Harry Holland over a joint campaign and upon winning, forming a coalition to set up a proportional representation electoral system. The talks broke down however after Wilford demanded to hold office for a full term before holding an election under the new system. The Liberals fared better under Wilford's leadership in 1922 than in the previous election, gaining an additional five seats. This can partly be attributed to Labour not standing candidates in all electorates against the Liberals in line with the ultimately failed joint campaign talks. However, the Liberals were still unable to regain office and by 1925, Wilford had yielded the leadership to George Forbes. Labour politician, John A. Lee, a colleague who knew Wilford well, stated that while no one could have saved the Liberal party from its ultimate demise, if Wilford had been in better health, he would have delayed it, returning the Liberals to power and served as Prime Minister himself.