led this cabinet. During World War II, De Geer's position becomes less tenable, as he attempted to negotiate a peace with the Germans against the will of the government. When the Dutch government went into exile he is replaced by ARP-member Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy and the CHU provided one minister in these cabinets in exile. 1945–1977 After the Second World War, prominent CHU politicians wanted to end the pillarisation of Dutch politics. Some wanted to unite the CHU with the ARP, others, like Piet Lieftinck, joined the new social democratic Labour Party (PvdA). Between 1945 and 1948 the CHU was marginalised politically as the re-founded Catholic People's Party (KVP) rejected cooperation with the confessional parties in favour of cooperation with the re-founded social democratic Labour Party (PvdA). Some prominent progressive CHU-members left the CHU to join this new PvdA. It was kept out of the progressive Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet. In the 1946 elections it kept it eight seats, which it also had before the war. The CHU was also kept out of the first Beel cabinet which also just consisted of the KVP and PvdA. After the 1948 election in which the party won one seat it was invited to join the cabinet again. It joined the broad basis cabinet Drees–Van Schaik cabinet which combined the KVP, PvdA, CHU and the conservative liberal VVD, that is every major party except for the Communist Party of the Netherlands and the Anti-Revolutionary Party. These parties were excluded because they opposed the major reforms the cabinets were implementing, including the welfare state, in the case of the CPN, and the decolonisation of the Dutch East Indies in the case of the ARP. The CHU endorsed both these policies, creating considerable conflict internally. The CHU parliamentary party in the Senate voted for the independence of Indonesia. The CHU provides one minister, which is expanded to two after a 1951 cabinet crisis. After the 1952 election a new cabinet was formed and the VVD was replaced by the ARP, while the CHU retained two ministers. In the 1956 election the party retained the same percentage of vote, but due to the expansion of parliament it gets 13 seats (out of 150). A new cabinet was formed with the same composition and the CHU retained its two ministers. In 1959 the cabinet fell prematurely. A caretaker cabinet was formed by ARP, KVP and CHU. After the 1959