had sunk into a state of near paralysis, and at the election, suffered a landslide defeat, being reduced to only 23 seats nationwide, including 14 for the UAP. After this election defeat, Menzies returned to the UAP leadership, and Fadden handed the post of opposition leader to him as well. However, as the Nationalists had a decade earlier, the party and its organisation now seemed moribund, particularly in NSW. UAP branches tended to become inactive between elections, and its politicians were seen as compromised by their reliance on large donations from business and financial organisations. In New South Wales, the party merged with the Commonwealth Party to form the Democratic Party, which merged with the Liberal Democratic Party the following year. In Queensland the state branch was absorbed into the Queensland People's Party. Menzies became convinced that the UAP was no longer viable, and a new anti-Labor party needed to be formed to replace it. He circulated a confidential memorandum expressing his wish for the UAP to be replaced: The name United Australia Party has fallen into complete disregard. It no longer means anything. Many of my own strongest supporters in my own electorate decline to have anything to do with the Party as such. [...] To establish a new party under a new name, it is, I think, essential to recognise that the new groups and movements which sprang up in the six months before the election were all expressions of dissatisfaction with the existing set-up. [...] The time between now and the next election is already beginning to run out! On 31 August 1945, the UAP was absorbed into the newly formed Liberal Party of Australia, with Menzies as its leader. The new party was dominated by former UAP members; with a few exceptions, the UAP party room became the Liberal party room. The Liberal Party went on to become the dominant centre-right party in Australian politics. After an initial loss to Labor at the 1946 election, Menzies led the new non-Labor Coalition (of the Liberal and Country parties) to victory at the 1949 election, defeating the incumbent Labor government led by Curtin's successor, Ben Chifley. The Coalition stayed in office for a record 23 years. Electoral performance Note: the United Australia Party did not run candidates in South Australia in 1931. The Emergency Committee of South Australia was the main anti-Labor party, but five MPs elected under