The replacement of
Jack Lang by
William McKell as
leader of the Labor Party in 1939 reunited and rejuvenated the party. A small number of Labor party members continued to support the far-left-wing
State Labor Party (Hughes-Evans) but that had minimal impact on the election results. The Labor Party moved away from Lang's populist, inflationary policies, which were seen as extremist by many voters in the middle ground of the political spectrum. McKell also improved the party's standing in rural electorates by personally selecting well-known local candidates. By contrast, the internal party divisions and lack of policy direction affecting the
United Australia Party (UAP) had resulted in
Alexander Mair replacing
Bertram Stevens as leader of the UAP and Premier in August 1939. The problems continued in the period prior to the election and throughout the course of the new parliament. These divisions were reflected federally in the forced resignation of
Robert Menzies as the
Prime Minister in August 1941, and the UAP disintegrated at a state level in 1943. The remnants of the UAP combined with the newly formed
Commonwealth Party to form the
Democratic Party in that year. Mair remained
Leader of the Opposition until 10 February 1944 when he was replaced by
Reginald Weaver. The result of the election was a landslide victory for the Labor Party: •
Australian Labor Party 54 seats • Independent Labor 1 seat •
United Australia Party 14 seats • Independent UAP 5 seats •
Country Party 12 seats • Independent 4 seats. The Labor Party government of McKell had a majority of 18 and McKell remained Premier throughout the term of the Parliament. The Labor Party won two further seats from the Country Party at by-elections during the parliament. Jack Lang was expelled from the Labor Party in 1943, having persistently attacked the governments of McKell and Australian Prime minister
John Curtin. Lang remained in parliament as the sole representative of
Lang Labor. This would be the first of NSW Labor's eight consecutive election victories. ==Key dates==