 When Molotov replied, naturally denying the allegations, Evatt read the letter out in Parliament, bringing the House into silence momentarily before both sides of Parliament began laughing.Evatt later publicly attacked "The Groupers", who had infiltrated the Victorian Labor Party, thus precipitating a split in the party, with most of the "Groupers" leaving or being expelled.The disaffected formed the Democratic Labor Party, which directed its preferences against Labor at subsequent elections.