to have been the only Speaker to eject National leader Robert Muldoon from the House. When Bill Rowling was elected Prime Minister, after Kirk died suddenly, Bailey was elected to fill the vacant seat in cabinet. He was appointed as both Minister of Railways and Minister of Electricity by Rowling from 10 September 1974 to 12 December 1975, when National came to power. He remembered his time as a minister as his best in politics. As Minister of Electricity he advocated for energy conservation and empowered the New Zealand Electricity Department to promote advertising to curb power wastage to avoid building further generating plants. In opposition after the unexpected defeat of the Third Labour Government Bailey initially retained a frontbench seat and from 1975 to 1979 he was Shadow Minister of Works and Development. In December 1979, impending retirement, he decided against standing for re-election to the Shadow Cabinet. He intended to enter local politics after leaving parliament. At the 1980 local-body elections he stood for the position of Mayor of Upper Hutt, but lost to incumbent Rex Kirton by the unexpectedly wide margin of 4,666 votes. Bailey attributed his loss to low voter turnout and local newspapers criticising his intention to do two jobs at once by remaining in parliament until the end of the term. Later life and career With his local-body intentions curtailed, Bailey struggled to find permanent work when he left parliament. He worked as a real estate agent for a while but found it hard to persuade people to take on high debt. For a while, he and his wife manufactured artisan chocolate at their home. He then became a review officer for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and went to retirement when he was 66. Bailey remained politically active after exiting parliament and during the Fourth Labour Government he was the Auckland convenor of the Backbone club, a party ginger group, formed to support Roger Douglas against Jim Anderton. He remained a friend of Douglas but never went as far as to join ACT. They later moved to Auckland and he died there on 16 April 2015, survived by his second wife. Honours In 1977, Bailey was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal. In the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours, Bailey appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services, and in 1990 he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration