The Conservatives, led by Arthur Meighen, adopted the name in the hope of making permanent the war-time Unionist coalition of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals (known as Liberal-Unionists). Very few Liberals stayed with the party, and some Conservatives balked at the move. MP John Hampden Burnham quit the government caucus to sit as an Independent Conservative and then resigned from the House of Commons in an attempt to win a by-election on the issue.[1]