the Dutch representation at the Vatican be removed. The Protestant SGP was fervently anti-Catholic. This proposal was always supported by the Protestant Christian Historical Union (CHU), which was part of the Catholic-Protestant cabinet, but nonetheless had an anti-Catholic history. For the Catholic leader Nolens, this Papal representation was of utmost importance. In 1925 the VDB had convinced the other opposition parties that this was their chance to let the government fall and create a progressive cabinet. The entire opposition voted with the SGP and CHU, and the cabinet fell. In the following 1925 elections the party gained two seats. The party leader, Marchant, attempted to form a progressive government with the Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP), the SDAP and the VDB. He failed, however, and a new Christian democratic cabinet was formed. In the 1929 elections the VDB retained its seven seats. In 1933 the party lost one seat, but it was nonetheless asked to cooperate in the centre-right government led by Colijn, which consisted of the Catholic RKSP, the Protestant CHU and ARP, and the liberal VDB and Liberal State Party. The VDB cooperated in the budget cuts and the strengthening of the Dutch armed forces. The previously good relations with the SDAP came under considerable strain from this. In 1933 the party's leader, Marchant, who also served as minister of Education, stepped down because he had turned Catholic. Pieter Oud took his place as political leader of the VDB, until he became major of Rotterdam in 1938. In 1937 they managed to retain their seven seats. In 1941 the party was forbidden by the German occupying force. The VDB played a minor role in the 1940-1945 cabinets in exile. Dissolution After the German occupation there was a widespread feeling that a new political party was necessary, one that was not part of the pillarised system. This movement was called the Breakthrough. Willem Schermerhorn became the first Prime Minister after the Second World War. He led a cabinet composed out of progressives of all parties. In 1946 the VDB merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the progressive Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to form the modern-day Labour Party (PvdA). However, this party soon strengthened its ties to democratic-socialist organisations. In 1948 a group dissatisfied with the failed "Breakthrough" and the increasingly socialist tint of the PvdA left the party. These were all former VDB members, led by former