Frank Forde

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{{Infobox PM

| name=Rt Hon Frank Forde
| image=frankforde.jpg
| country=Australia
| term=6 July – 13 July, 1945
| before=John Curtin
| after=Ben Chifley
| date_birth=18 July, 1890
| place_birth=Mitchell, Queensland
| date_death=28 January 1983
| party=Labor

}} Francis Michael Forde (18 July, 1890 – 28 January, 1983) was an Australian politician and the 15th Prime Minister of Australia.

He was born at Mitchell, Queensland, where his father was a grazier. He was educated at Catholic schools and became a teacher. Settling in Rockhampton he became active in the Labor Party and in workers' education groups.

In 1917 he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as Labor MP for Rockhampton. In 1922 he resigned and was elected to the House of Representatives for Capricornia.

Frank Forde soon advanced in the Labor ranks and when Labor won the 1929 elections he became Assistant Minister for Trade and Customs in the Scullin government. In the last days of the government he became Minister for Trade and Customs. As one of the few senior Labor MPs to survive defeat at the 1931 elections he became Deputy Opposition Leader in 1932. He remains the only Federal Deputy Leader of the ALP to come from Queensland. When Scullin retired in 1935, Forde contested the leadership ballot; but he was defeated by one vote by John Curtin, mainly because he had supported Scullin's economic policies.

Forde was a loyal deputy, and in 1941 when Labor returned to power he became Minister for the Army, a vital role in wartime. In 1945 Curtin died, and as Deputy Leader Forde was commissioned by the Governor-General as Prime Minister on 6 July. He again contested the leadership, but was defeated by Ben Chifley. He left office on 13 July; nevertheless he continued to carry out important political functions, as Deputy Prime Minister, and as Minister for Defence. In the latter role he was much criticised for the slowness with which Army personnel were being demobilised. As a result, he lost his seat at the 1946 elections, though the Labor Party itself comfortably retained office.

Chifley appointed Forde High Commissioner to Canada, and he held this position until 1953. He returned to Australia and tried to re-enter Parliament at the 1954 elections, but was defeated. In 1955 he returned to the Queensland state Parliament as MP for Flinders. (He is the only former Prime Minister, and the only Privy Councillor since Federation, to have served in a State Parliament.) However, in 1957 the Labor Party split resulted not only in Labor falling from power, but in Forde being defeated in his own electorate. Save for this blow, he would probably have become Labor leader in Queensland, given that Premier Vince Gair and most of Gair's followers had been expelled from the party.

Forde retired to Brisbane where he devoted himself to Catholic charity work. He died in 1983, from natural causes.

He was the shortest-serving Prime Minister in Australian history - his term of office lasted only a week - but the longest-lived Australian Prime Minister, living to the age of 92 years, six months and ten days. He had one of the unluckiest careers in Australian political history, missing out repeatedly upon the highest offices. His feat in serving as Deputy Leader under three ALP Leaders (Scullin, Curtin and Chifley) was one that would not be repeated by anyone else until Jenny Macklin. The electoral Division of Forde is named after him.

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