life or have political careers in the Liberal Party. They included Bill Wentworth, Norman Thomas (a former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for the seat of Bondi), Roden Cutler, Brice Mutton and Eileen Furley, the first conservative female member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. However, White's over-bearing manner and his insistence that the party have a free trade platform soon caused many of its members to leave. The party gained significant publicity prior to the 1943 federal election, particularly through a weekly broadcast by White over Radio Station 2CH. Election results The party stood a number of candidates in New South Wales electorates at the 1943 federal election. However, with the exception of Brigadier Denzil Macarthur-Onslow, who gained 21% of the primary vote to come second in Eden-Monaro, and Wing Commander Nigel Love, who polled 19% in Parkes, the party performed poorly. The UAP's results at the election were also poor: its national primary vote was reduced by 8% and it lost nine of its 23 seats from the 1940 election. After the election, the LDP, the New South Wales United Australia Party (UAP) and the Commonwealth Party began discussions on a merger to form a new party, proposed to be also named Liberal Democratic Party. By November 1943, discussions were almost completed and unity was likely. The Country Party declined to join the merger but expressed they would co-operate with the new party. However, during the unity conference on 24 November 1943, the LDP walked out of the conference as they were not willing to support retaining the secretary of the UAP, H. W. Horsfield, as the secretary of the new party, as well as retaining members of his staff. Instead, during the same conference, the Commonwealth Party and the New South Wales UAP proceeded to merge without the LDP to form the Democratic Party. As such, LDP remained a separate party to the Democratic Party. In the lead-up to the 1944 state elections, the LDP party generated publicity disproportionate to its size and the Sydney Morning Herald commented that the Liberal Democratic Party was "a mouse" attempting to "swallow the Democratic Party lion". The results of the election, in which the party received less than 4% of the primary vote and did not win a seat, confirmed that it was of minor political importance. Joining the Liberal Party Horsfield, the secretary of the